


Kill Dear

by AdrianaintheSnow



Series: Birds of Different Feathers [1]
Category: Sanders Sides (Web Series)
Genre: A character who is not suicidal but has little value for his own life, Assassination Attempt(s), Background Moxiety - Freeform, Can be read as Demus, Discussions of sex, Enemies to Lovers, Fantasy Racism, Fear of Death, Fear of sexual coercion, Fear of sexual violence, Fear of torture, Forced Feeding, Knives, M/M, Magic, Making Out, Serious Injuries, Swords, Violence, magical coercion, sexual innuendo
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-03
Updated: 2020-08-29
Packaged: 2021-03-05 20:54:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 24
Words: 61,573
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25691647
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AdrianaintheSnow/pseuds/AdrianaintheSnow
Summary: Roman of the Northern Tribes, 3rd in line for a seat at the table and decorated war general in the Mocnejsi Kingdom’s army stumbles upon a traveling group whose carriage has a painted over emblem of the enemy kingdom on its side. In exchange for the lives and freedom of his other party members, Logan strikes a blood bonded deal with the general to deliver the crowned prince of Prijaznia into his custody.Logan becomes his prisoner and with an ancient secret code book belonging to the prince, he guides Roman and his troupes through dangerous magical locations, perilous tasks, and puzzling riddles. Logan knows, of course, that he signed his own death warrant when he struck such a deal, whether or not they ever make it to the destination at the end of his book, but he is determined to go down kicking, screaming and spitting in Roman’s face all the way to the guillotine. He’s a dead man, but he’ll achieve as much as he can before Roman inevitably kills him.Because here’s the trick; Logan’s the prince.
Relationships: Anxiety | Virgil Sanders/Morality | Patton Sanders, Creativity | Roman "Princey" Sanders/Logic | Logan Sanders
Series: Birds of Different Feathers [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1867075
Comments: 468
Kudos: 382





	1. Arc I: A Deal Etched in Blood Chapter 1: A Deal is Struct

**Author's Note:**

> This is my Big Bang 2020 fic. It is all out on my tumblr blog [here](https://snowdice.tumblr.com/post/625433864754577408/kill-dear-big-bang-2020-master-post), but I will post it chapter by chapter here. (About a chapter a day.)

“So,” Roman said, coming to a halt in his pacing. He crossed his arms casually and let his eyes linger on each of the seven people in front of him one at a time. He imagined he cut quite the imposing figure standing there, particularly to the two on the ground and the one on their knees. Those three had tried to fight, and Roman was impressed by their gall as Roman’s troupe of 25 far outnumbered them. They’d been overwhelmed rather quickly and now all three were being held at sword point. The remaining four of the party were also surrounded, though swords were not being pointed at them. Roman cast his eyes to the woman on her knees. She had lasted the longest. “Anybody here want to live?”

He was bluffing, of course. He wasn’t going to slit the throats of seven already disarmed people, but they did not know that, and Roman was a good actor. There was reason to press the group despite the fact that they all wore commoner clothing. Just looking at the group, they seemed to be a normal traveling convoy with two wagons between them and enough supplies to make it to the next city comfortably. In another circumstance, Roman would have left them alone with barely a blink, but one of his scouts had noticed a painted over royal crest on the side of one of the wagons. That was more suspicious than if they’d just left the crest undisturbed. In that case, it could have just been a group of castle servants on an unimportant job. As it was, they were trying to hide their origins. They had something to hide, and Roman wanted to know what. So, he squared his shoulders and tilted his head to the left as he waited for a response to his question.

A few of them shifted and looked down at their feet. No one spoke.

Roman hummed, putting on a show of dark amusement for them. “Don’t think I can’t recognize that emblem you tried to cover up on your wagon. I’m not a fool.” He started to pace slowly in front of them again. “You are not just a group of travelers. You have some ulterior motive. Now, the question is whether whatever your goal was is worth killing all of you or not.”

Still, none of them broke ranks.

“If you don’t tell me,” Roman continued. “I’ll just have to assume the worst and act accordingly.”

He let the threat hang in the air for a beat, turning his face away from them briefly.

Then, he spun back around to face them. “Okay, okay,” he said letting his tone drift a bit higher. He shot them a charming smile and could see the way the change in demeanor ruffled them. “I get it. You don’t want to give out your sensitive information to just anyone. So, allow me to explain my qualifications. My name is Roman Arcadia of The North. Today, I represent my country’s ally, the kingdom of Mocnejsi. You may know of me, you may not, but I’ve been in many battles with your people. I imagine most of you are aware of my goals as a general in the Mocnejsi army but let me make myself clear.” He let his voice darken again. “I want you to tell me everything and don’t even try to lie.” He glanced at Janus. “We’ll know.”

He gave them all one last long look over.

“Give me all of the information you have, and I might think about letting some of you live. Or, at least,” he gave a half smile. “I might kill you faster.” A pause. “I don’t take ‘no’ for an answer.”

Not a word.

He flicked a hand and one of his soldiers’ swords came up to press against the neck of one of the standing captives. “I don’t take silence for an answer either.”

“I know where the prince is,” a voice piped up quite suddenly. Roman did his best to keep the surprise off his face at that outburst. That he had not been expecting. Roman hadn’t had any aims to find the prince of Prijaznia. He had just been on a general reconnaissance mission, but he worked for the Mocnejsi army and having the prince as a political prisoner would be quite the bargaining chip in the current war. Not to mention, if Roman was the one who managed to take him into custody, it would shine down nicely on his home country in the alliance. Needless to say, if the speaker truly did know where the prince was, then Roman was intrigued.

“ _Logan_ ,” the man with the sword at his throat scolded, harshly, but ‘Logan’ did not even glance at him.

“Hush, Patton,” he replied firmly, his eyes trained on Roman.

Roman eyed him up and down. He was more than half a foot shorter than Roman, but he held himself like he was a foot taller and twice as wide. Their eyes met. “Is that so?” Roman asked.

“It is.”

Roman strolled up to him, the two of Roman’s men standing between them, parting easily. He stopped in front of this ‘Logan’ and flashed him a falsely warm smile. “Want to share?”

“Not particularly,” he replied.

Roman didn’t let his expression change as his arm shot forward. His hand fisted into the front of the man’s shirt. It was easy to pluck the smaller man off his feet and hoist him into the air.

Logan took this change in positions with much less concern than Roman had anticipated. His eyes looked almost lazily down at the one hand holding him aloft and then traveled back up to meet Roman’s gaze. “I want to make a deal,” he stated.

“A deal?” Roman asked and laughed darkly while giving him a little shake. “And why would I agree to that?”

“Because,” the man explained slowly as though he thought Roman was an idiot, “then you would have the information you seek.”

“Oh, little bird,” Roman cooed, pulling him closer so there was but an inch between them. Roman focused on making himself seem as intimidating as possible. “Why would I want to make a deal when I could easily just make you sing?”

There was finally a twitch of fear, yet it was brief enough that Roman likely would have missed it if he hadn’t been staring into Logan’s eyes. “Because,” he explained calmly. “it would be much easier, and you would lose nothing of value. Especially with your compatriot over there.” He inclined his head towards Janus.

Roman suppressed his shock that the man recognized Janus for what he was with barely a glance. Roman himself had not even understood why the Mocnejsi commanders had assigned to his troupe a random, tattooed Mocnejsi citizen when he became a general. After all, they had let him hand pick the rest of his group and all the rest were from one of the five Northern tribes like Roman. It had eventually been explained to him that Janus was not meant to be a solider. Yet, even after working for over three years with the other man, Roman still did not know anywhere near all there was to know about multrums’ abilities.

“Ah,” Roman said. “So, you want to make a _deal._ ”

“I believe,” Logan said, his voice slowing into an insulting drawl. “I have already said that.”

Roman narrowed his eyes at his belligerence. “Janus, come here,” he requested. “Our new friend here wants to make a deal with us.” Janus walked to his side without a word.

Logan turned to look at him. “I know where the prince is,” he replied, his words steady even though he should be terrified right now. “If you release my companions unharmed, I will,” and there, right then there was finally a hitch in his breath, “guide you to where he has taken himself, and allow you to take him into your custody.”

“Lo…” the man from before again spoke up.

“Be quiet, Patton,” he spat, and Roman didn’t react to the spit that hit his cheek.

“He isn’t lying,” Janus supplied, and considering his powers were to discern if a person was lying or not, Roman nodded.

Roman took a moment to mull the situation over in his mind. “Wow,” he scoffed, his face screwing up into a scowl. “What an astounding display of loyalty. You would give your prince up so easily?” It would be a favorable outcome for Roman, but he couldn’t help but be a bit disgusted by the actions of the man in front of him. He was willing to trade his own monarch’s life for his own without even a flicker of remorse on his face. It was treason, but more than that, it was cowardly.

“I care more for the people here than for the prince,” Logan responded without a lick of hesitation.

Roman sneered and moved him back so he could see his face more clearly. He looked at the man with a judgmental half-smile. “And how did someone with so weak a constitution manage to come by such closely guarded information as the location of the crowned prince?”

“I attended the prince’s lessons as well as meetings with his father at least 90% of the time. I know all of his secrets.”

“Not a lie,” Janus said.

Roman shrugged then. Honestly, he felt just a bit of shame on the prince’s behalf that someone who was clearly a trusted companion would give him up so easily for his own gain. What type of man did he have to be to inspire such little allegiance? “Fine,” Roman agreed. He set Logan down onto his feet. “Janus, if you would.”

“Logan, don’t,” the man who had protested twice before again spoke up. Roman looked over at him and their eyes met. The man that Logan had called Patton looked horrified and like he might try to fight despite the sword against his neck. He was clearly not a solider by his physique and from his lack of a struggle earlier, but he looked ready to throw down his own life. Roman had yet to speak a single word to him, but he already had far more of Roman’s respect than Logan ever could. He made a hand signal to the guard with the sword at Patton’s neck and the sword was removed, but he was restrained by two hands on his shoulders a moment later. And, oh, did he fight then. He squirmed and tried to bite.

Logan noticed and snapped his eyes to the two other party members that weren’t restrained or held by sword point. “Restrain him,” he ordered. “Now.”

The two paused for a moment and then one put his hand on Patton’s upper arm to help Roman’s soldier restrain him. “Don’t you dare!” he spat, but the other one also grabbed for him. “No! Mrph.”

Logan turned away as Patton was silenced and wrestled to the ground. Janus watched the scuffle with a raised eyebrow before lifting the edge of his sleeve to reveal one of his tattoos (which Roman had been informed was actually a birthmark all multrums had). “You…” he began.

“I know how it’s done,” Logan interjected. Without a moment’s pause, he set his finger on the white end of the mark. “I’ll be instigator.”

“Rather presumptuous,” Roman commented.

“I would rather not allow you the chance to create unforeseen loopholes,” he spat. “Considering the life with which I am bartering and the ones I am bartering for.”

Wouldn’t want to betray your prince and not get anything out of it, Roman thought. “Fine, I’ll be respondent.” He set his finger on the black edge of Janus’s mark.

Logan took a moment and then began. “The deal goes,” he said. “I will guide you to the location of the prince of Prijazna, Prince Thomas IV, son of King Thomas III. I will not impede your progress in any way. I will allow you to take him into custody. I will not resist your capture of him or try to release him after the fact. In return, you and those under your control or influence will not bring about harm to any member of my party. The members of this party including Patton Baker, Gillian Heart, Johnathon Heart, Silvester Ingrid, Lilith Romano, and Alison Mendy. You and those under your control or influence will allow each of the previous named members of my party to go free and will not attempt to recapture or hinder their escape from you. This includes leaving them with adequate supplies to return to the city and not communicating their location to an outside party.”

Roman ran the phrasing carefully through his head before he responded. When he looked over at Janus, he gave him a droll look but didn’t make any sign that he sensed a deception in Logan’s words. “I accept your terms,” Roman replied.

Janus’s face twisted up and Roman felt magic prick at his finger where it met Janus’s skin. He drew back in surprise in time to see a drop of his own blood seem to sink into the multrum’s flesh. Logan drew his own hand back at a more sedate pace. A glowing black mass accumulated under Janus’s skin where Roman’s blood had been, making his skin bulge there. A similar white bulge appeared where Logan’s finger had been. After a moment, the two masses began moving slowly under Janus’s skin. Roman’s own skin crawled as he watched Janus’s veins pop out under the tattoo like he was straining his muscles too much. They traveled along the spiraling mark until they met in the middle. The masses pressed into each other, the black and white swirling together and then turning red like the blood that had originally made them. It popped partially out of Janus’s skin.

“That’s always quite pleasant.” Janus said as he plucked the red bead from half in his arm with a grimace. It lifted a bit of skin with it before it detached, leaving what looked like a burn mark. Roman felt sick. “I just love doing it.” Okay, Roman decided. That was something he would never ask him to do again if at all possible.

“I had understood it was rather painful,” Logan said, eyebrows crinkling.

“No,” Janus replied, expression aghast. “Why ever would something like that be painful?” Logan just crinkled his eyebrows even more, clearly completely thrown. Janus rolled his eyes. “You’ll be so much fun to have around.” He handed Roman the bead and Roman took it, with a slightly displeased twist to his lips. This was made of his and Logan’s blood and maybe Janus’s flesh. That was… yeah. Yet, he felt like he didn’t have the right to be the one uncomfortable with the bead’s existence considering it had just traveled under Janus’s skin and popped out of his arm. He curled his fingers around the bead. “A souvenir,” Janus told him. “Don’t lose it.”

“Why?” Roman asked. “Is it important?”

Janus gave him an annoyed looked. “No.” The word dripped with sarcasm.

“Yes, it is,” Logan replied with a frown.

Roman and Janus both looked at him for a moment. “I’ll keep it safe,” he said. For now, he stored it in a small pocket near his chest. Then, he turned to his new prisoner. “We’re letting the other’s go,” he informed his soldiers without breaking eye contact with Logan, “but I’ll need some rope for this one.”

“I’ll need the book in my bag,” Logan informed Roman. He suppressed a wince as the man pulled on his arm a bit while tying his hands behind his back. _Because I’m going to need it to lead you on a futile quest,_ he finished in his head.

“And why’s that?” he asked.

“Because it contains a map,” he explained patiently.

“We have maps.”

This fucking dumb ass. Of all people, Logan had to be stuck with one who was almost too obtuse to trick. Almost.

“It’s a special map,” Logan gritted out. “Do you want to be able to find the prince or is the plan to just play cards until the war ends? I believe I might have a deck in my bag as well if that interests you more.”

“If you have a map to the prince, why don’t I just take it and get rid of you?”

Logan raised an eyebrow and his voice. “Can anyone here read Latin and Sanskrit as well as decode Ladimon and Celiun codes?” He paused as though for a response. “No? Just me then?”

Roman tilted his head at him, brows pinched in annoyance. Good. “Find the book,” he told the woman nearest to them.

“It’s the blue bag with the stars on the handles,” Logan called after her. There was, after all, no reason for her to go about destroying the possessions of his traveling companions. Or, ex-traveling companions as it were. He wasn’t going home with them. In fact, unless Roman died by circumstances unrelated to Logan, he was pretty sure he wasn’t going home at all. If the man was willing to order a sword raised to Patton’s neck thinking him just a regular person tangentially related to the crown, Logan was sure he would not be keeping his head the moment Roman learned he was the prince.

So, now it was just a game to see how long Logan could stall.

The sounds of Patton still struggling against the others in the background continued. He imagined they’d continue even when they were out of sight. Logan was just thankful the others’ loyalty to his word superseded their loyalty to his life, else they would all be dead. Logan’s heart squeezed and he resolutely kept his back on the six men and women he knew so well. Instead he kept his eyes on Roman. He hoped he was taken away soon, because he wasn’t sure how long he could handle listening to Patton’s muffled screaming.

Moments after the thought crossed his mind, it seemed he was getting his wish because the brute grabbed him around the waist and hoisted him into the air to carry him towards one of the three wagons Roman’s group had.

“I can walk,” he hissed. His arms were smarting already from how they’d been bound. Logan chose to focus on that agitation rather than… other things. Roman did not respond, but just carried him to the wagon and all but tossed him inside. Logan landed on his knees and toppled forward onto his face. He felt anger boiling in his gut at the unkind treatment, but he bit his tongue and closed his eyes. _This is fine,_ Logan thought.

It was, of course, not at all fine.

He’d just signed his own death warrant in blood. It had been a tactical decision, but not one that he relished in. Yet, he would have died anyway if he had not spoken and the rest of his party would have too. With a multrum around, there were no lies his party could have said to get out of the situation. They would have held their tongues to their graves, he knew. It is why they’d been handpicked to accompany him on his journey to talk to the governor of Lanuili about the strain on supplies due to the long-lasting war. He could not abide by their deaths if he could prevent them.

At least this way, he had the peace of knowing they would not be harmed. They would have a chance to get word to his father and explain what had happened. It would give the king a chance to strategize he might not otherwise have. The loss of an heir would be quite the political blow to the kingdom.

Logan knew he was ignoring the emotional toll it would take on the king and the others who cared for him personally, but if he dwelled on that, he would surely not be able to outrun his own emotional response. He could not afford to break. He could cry when he was dead. For now, he had a bit of life left to live. He would not squander it.

“Is this the book?” Roman asked, peaking into the carriage. Logan had managed to mostly right himself by this point and glanced over the large book Roman held in his hands: the Pragilium Text.

“Yes,” Logan replied.

He flipped it open and Logan wanted to snatch it away. Yet, he could not. In leu of that, he wanted to snap at the man holding the book or maybe to scream at him. It took all of his control not to do so. Instead he watched. There was a vindictive type of pleasure when Roman and Janus looked at the book Logan practically had memorized with a baffled look on their faces.

“You are holding it upside down,” Logan lied.

Roman immediately flipped it and squinted at it again. Logan bit his tongue to keep from laughing. At least there would be some form of entertainment for Logan leading up to his inevitable execution.

Janus met his eyes from over Roman’s shoulder. He did not move to inform the other man of Logan’s petty deception. He just leveled Roman with a very tired look. Janus was a danger to Logan not only because of what he was (though, that did provide its own set of issues) but because he seemed to be actually competent. At least, he did while standing next to the dolt nodding at the book as though he could read upside down Sanskrit.

Eventually, Roman gave up on the book and put it back in Logan’s bag. He put the bag down in the carriage and Logan was surprised by his luck. It was more of an advantage than Logan had expected, especially as it held his extra pair of glasses (his normal pair having fallen off in the struggle against Roman’s troupe), and it had a hidden compartment with a very sharp knife courtesy of Virgil.

Roman left the carriage and Logan could hear him give the order to move out. The carriage began to move. Logan ended up falling back onto his face rather quickly. He distracted himself from the likely forming bruise on his nose by vividly imagining Roman’s head upon a guillotine.


	2. Establishing Rules

Roman had his soldiers ride for a long while on unfrequented paths before he finally let them stop for the night. He wasn’t particularly happy with letting a group of six enemies go free with knowledge of his general location. While those six were not dangerous on their own, if they got word to their king, then Roman could have a problem. The deal had been worth the risk, but that didn’t mean Roman was going to sit idly in the danger zone.

He only allowed his party to pause every so often to rest the horses and for everyone to pour water down their throats. The pouring part had been a bit more literal when he’d offered some to his new best friend, much to Logan’s chagrin.

Roman was shot a disgruntled look when he entered the carriage right before nightfall. Roman pulled him up and out of the carriage before setting him on his feet. He wobbled a bit before steadying.

Roman blinked at him in the fading light of the sunset. “Is that blood?” he asked a touch concerned.

“It’s a bit hard to keep one’s balance when one’s hands are tied and the most treacherous paths possible are chosen.” Logan spat back.

Roman considered him and quickly found the source of the trickle of blood was a small gash on his cheek. “And did one try to stand up in a moving carriage while one’s hands were tied behind one’s back?” Roman tsked. He reached up a finger to touch the wound. Logan snarled and jerked back. Roman grabbed him to keep him from falling back and then grabbed his chin. “Usually I’d give a prisoner the choice to have me touch it or let it get infected until they die a slow and painful death, but in this case, I need you alive, so you don’t have a choice. Understand.” There was no sign of submission in his eyes at Roman’s show of dominance, but he didn’t argue back. Roman wordlessly reached into his pack to pull out his small first aid kit. He chose a disinfectant salve and rubbed it into the gash before covering it with a bit of gauze and tape. “There,” he said. “Easy.”

He leveled a haughty glare at Roman that might have made him squirm if Logan wasn’t still very ruffled from his bumpy carriage ride, was a few inches taller, and had the use of his hands. As it was, it just made grin in amusement.

“It is completely unnecessary to keep me tied,” Logan said, his voice level.

“I don’t think it’s unnecessary.” He was not stupid enough to let an enemy go free in his camp and he wasn’t about to be swayed or tricked into putting his soldiers in harm’s way.

He gritted his teeth. “But-”

Roman stepped close enough to him that he had to crane his neck up to look in Roman’s eyes. “You don’t get to make demands,” Roman informed him. “I am the one in control here, so don’t even try it. I think you should remain tied up and so you will. That is our relationship. If you understand what I’m saying, then you’ll keep your mouth shut.”

Logan’s eyes narrowed and his jaw clenched, but he said nothing. Smart. Cowardly, but smart.

“Now sit and stay there while we set up camp.”

A muscle in his jaw twitched at the command, but he went down to his knees in front of Roman before maneuvering himself into a sitting position with his knees bent in front of him.

“Good,” Roman said before turning on his heels to leave him there.

Camp was set up quickly, everyone knowing their jobs and working well together with Roman barely having to give any instructions. Roman kept an eye on Logan while he set up his own tent and sorted out who would be taking what shifts on watch that night. Logan did not move from the spot Roman had left him nor did he try to talk to anyone that walked by. Well. At least he could listen. That would make this easier. Though, Roman planned to be cautious still. He was compliant for now, but there was something in his eyes that warned Roman that the second Roman gave him any slack, there’d be a knife at his throat. If he was willing to stab his own prince in the back to save his skin, he certainly would do the same to Roman in a heartbeat.

Once dinner was finished cooking, he walked back over to Logan. “Follow me if you’d like to eat,” he told him and then turned to walk off towards the center of camp.

“Are you going to help me stand?” he asked.

Roman paused but didn’t turn around. “No.”

There was a muttered curse behind him, but Roman just continued to his seat across from Janus. When he looked back over, he was honestly impressed with the speed at which he’d managed to get himself to his knees. Roman watched as he carefully got his feet under him and managed to stand. Honestly, Roman had expected him to end up coming over on his knees. Instead, he walked over to Roman and stared down at him, just a bit breathless from the struggle against gravity. If looks could kill, Logan might actually have had a chance. As it were, Roman gestured to the open space beside him. “There,” he said.

Logan carefully lowered himself into the indicated spot with a grunt. Ivy and Lucus started passing plates around at River’s instructions a few moments later. Logan looked down at the one Roman had placed in front of him.

“Can my hands be untied to eat?” he asked.

“No,” Roman replied.

“I imagine I wouldn’t be overly useful to you if I starve to death,” he said blankly. He stared straight ahead past Janus’s shoulder. He also wouldn’t be very useful to Roman if he was holding a sharp object to Roman’s throat.

Roman hummed and picked up Logan’s plate. He stabbed some of the meat with the provided fork and lifted it up in front of his mouth. Logan blinked at it and then at him in surprise. His lips turned down. “Or I could put it on the ground, and you can eat like a dog,” Roman offered. Roman watched as he took a measured breath and trained his eyes forward. He opened his mouth and Roman slid the fork into it. “See,” he mocked. “That’s not so bad, is it?”

Logan slowly finished chewing and swallowed before he responded. “You should hope my death comes before I have an opportunity to pay you back.”

Roman plastered on a smirk even though the fear of what exactly Logan might be able to do if he were loose surfaced in his mind. Roman offered him another bite. He opened his mouth for it, but Roman didn’t draw back when he wrapped his lips around it. Instead, he pressed the prongs warningly into his tongue. “I don’t have to be nice,” he said when Logan’s startled eyes flickered to his. He paused a moment for impact and then withdrew the fork.

Logan didn’t challenge him with anything other than his eyes for the rest of the meal. When Logan’s plate was empty, Roman stood and grabbed him by the shoulders to lift him off his feet. He said nothing as Roman carried him over to his own tent and set him down on his feet in front of it.

“Stay here.” Roman took his lack of argument as agreement and walked back to his previous seat to eat his own food. He slowed as he noticed Janus staring at him with his we-need-to-talk expression. “What?” he asked through a mouthful of potatoes.

“Well…” the man drawled. “Your treatment of him is completely justified.”

“Janus, please,” Roman groaned. “I’m too tired to deal with your personality right now.”

Janus looked him over. “He’s helping us. I’d have thought you’d drop the act by the time we made camp.”

“He’s still an enemy even if he’s useful,” Roman reminded, “and he’s not willingly helping us. We know nothing about him or the tricks he might have up his sleeves. He’s also a coward and cowards can be unpredictable. If I scare him into thinking he’s better off obeying than facing the consequences of going against me, we will all be safer. I’m not going to let my people get hurt because he played weak and helpless. There’s something off about him. I don’t trust him.”

“He can’t lie with me here,” Janus pointed out, “and he’s bound by a blood deal.”

“Caution is never ill-advised.”

“What about cruelty?”

“I’m not torturing the man. The most he’s even gotten roughed up is from the carriage ride. I just want to make sure he understands his position here. I’m laying some ground rules and making sure he doesn’t try anything funny.

Janus thought for a moment. “Like you said, you don’t know anything about him. Be careful you actually know what you’re doing, and your plan doesn’t backfire.”

“That,” Roman said. “Is why he’s staying tied up. Can’t stab me in the back if he can’t use his arms and doesn’t have a knife.”

“You truly are the smartest general in all the lands.”

“Thanks,” Roman said. “Also, I hate you.” The corners of Janus’s mouth curled up a bit. Roman finished his meal in peace, only glancing to check on the man sulking in front of his tent every few bites.

It was fortunate that Logan’s father had taught him to control his pride, else he surely would be dead by now. He took a deep breath from his position standing with his hands tied behind his back in front of a tent. Every moment he resisted uselessly attempting to act on the hate boiling in his gut, was another moment he was winning, he reminded himself. He could do nothing now; it was best to save his burning ire for when it could be put to use. He was playing the long game.

His life had an inevitable end now, but that didn’t mean he still couldn’t get something done. It’s why he’d chosen to focus on the Pragilium Text when his jury-rigged plan had been still half-baked. During his time getting slammed around the inside of the carriage, Logan had hashed out the details of his plan. There were three goals.

The first goal was logical and mostly with his people in mind. It was simply to keep the fact that he was the prince a secret as long as possible. To do this, he must not use his full name, he could not tell a lie (or a truth for that matter) that could inform Janus of who he was, and he had to not mention any incriminating facts about his background. The longer he kept his secret, the longer he was keeping Roman and his group of soldiers distracted. And the longer he lived.

The second goal was honestly more of a selfish goal. He planned to get as far towards the location the Pragilium Text led as possible. He’d spent his entire life studying the text and yearning to attempt to find the hidden magical grotto himself. However, his duties as a prince had prevented this dream for him his entire life. Yet, in this circumstance following the guidance of the text actually was a help for leading Roman astray. It was believable and complex. Plus, it had the added bonus that it might inadvertently kill Roman and release Logan from the deal. It also might kill Logan, but at this point it was better to die on his dream adventure rather than being executed or worse by the enemy.

The last goal was petty and one he’d tacked on about the time Roman poured a canister of water on his head. Its importance had only grown steadily since. He was going to make Roman suffer. At any opportunity. By any means that presented themselves.

He glared at Roman while the other man ate, cheeks burning even now with the humiliation of the last few hours. He bit his tongue and started to calm himself by running through Latin verb conjugations in his head: percutiō, percutis, percutit, percutimus, percutitis, percutiunt; necō, necās, necat, necāmus, necātis, necant; perimō, perimis, perimit, perimimus, perimitis, perimunt…

Once he’d calmed down enough to see more than just red, he went about studying his enemy. The group of 26 men and women had split off into groups of 3-6 for their meal. Roman and Janus sat in one of the larger groups but angled toward each other slightly. They exchanged a few words as Logan watched. Janus was more than simply useful to Roman it seemed. Their communications went beyond Janus using his powers for Roman’s aims. By the way they sat, it seemed Janus had Roman’s friendship as well as his ear. He was a concerning variable for Logan. He would have to carefully watch his words every moment. If Roman grew suspicious, he could force an answer Logan didn’t want to give with Janus’s aid.

Then, there were the three other soldiers in Roman’s dining group. Judging by their positions in the seating arrangement and how Logan had observed Roman speak to them, they were all clearly high ranking in the group’s hierarchy.

The rest of the group was a bit more of a puzzle, but nothing Logan could not readily sus out. After a few minutes of watching, he postulated that the group subconsciously had recreated the group hierarchy in the way they sat. They spiraled out from Roman in the center to the two soldiers on the outskirts, barely even adults and trading words only between each other for the most part. Yet, as Logan searched for weak links, he couldn’t find any promising ones. Even the two young ones didn’t seem as though they were excluded. They simply seemed slightly new and overwhelmed.

It was more of a cohesive group than he was expecting from a Mocnejsi troupe. Though, to be fair, his source of information about the inner workings of the Mocnejsi army was a bit… biased.

Logan narrowed his focus onto Roman who was smiling as one of the people in his circle spoke to him. Logan was loath to admit it, but he did seem personable with the people under his lead. From the little he’d observed, there was much loyalty in the group. It was disappointing as there were not many targets for Logan to attempt to turn against Roman.

Roman finished eating and talked to a few of his soldiers. Then, everyone started to break off to go to bed or start guard duty. Logan watched Roman warily as he approached once again. Instead of asking him to move, he simply pushed Logan into the tent without a word.

Logan watched as he unrolled two bedrolls. “That one’s yours,” he said pointing. Then he started stripping out of his clothing.

“I see you have no concept of modesty,” Logan mumbled. He thought he should look away out of politeness, but he also didn’t think Roman deserved him to be polite. On the other hand, Logan didn’t want to stare at his captor’s body. He ended up awkwardly half-looking because he couldn’t make a decision. He continued to strip until he was only in his undergarments and then flopped onto his own bedroll.

“Can I perhaps have something to wear for sleep or at least the option to remove the restrains long enough to use my undergarments?”

“You can sleep in what you’re wearing.” Of course, he could.

“Would you, please,” he was impressed with himself that he was able to get out the last word, “restrain me in a more comfortable way for sleep.”

“No.”

Right. Logan carefully lowered himself onto the bedroll on his knees and maneuvered himself onto his side. He could tell immediately that he’d be very sore by the time he woke if he stayed on his side, so he turned onto his stomach. Of course, that position wasn’t much better especially without a real pillow.

“This isn’t a comfortable way to sleep,” Logan said.

“Don’t care,” was the answer.

Of course, he didn’t. Logan already knew that. He thought at this point he continued to express his discomforts with the sole goal of stroking the anger burning in his gut. He shifted around a bit more to try to get into the most comfortable position possible with his current plight. Roman was already slipping into sleep on his back.

I’m going to do everything I can to make you suffer before you kill me, Logan vowed in his head once again while looking at him in the dark. He may think Logan had no power in this situation, but Logan was clever and filled with the spite of a walking dead man. He was going to dig his heels in as much as possible on his way to the guillotine and slam Roman’s head into the mud as many times as he could along the way.


	3. Explanation of Benefits

When Roman woke, he immediately felt eyes on him. He turned his head to find Logan staring at him. He was laying on his stomach with his head tilted to the side so he could keep his eyes transfixed on Roman. Well. That was creepy.

Their eyes met and the blank look on his face actually managed to send a shiver up Roman’s spine. Roman was very happy he’d left him tied up overnight because that look told Roman everything, he needed to know about what Logan would have done if he’d had use of his hands while Roman was asleep. He shoved his leeriness away and got to his feet.

He would need to untie him every so often during the day, but Roman definitely wasn’t going to sleep with him free.

“You stay here until breakfast,” Roman informed him. He left the tent before the man had a chance to answer.

He sighed and met with Harlow, his second in command and told her they’d be moving out after breakfast. He asked Atticus to take inventory of their supplies before they left and checked to make sure River, Ivy, and Lucus weren’t having any trouble getting breakfast ready. Seeing that everything was going smoothly, he checked up on Iris and Theo. The two cousins were still not quite used to life in the army and Roman always made sure to check in and make sure the 18-year-olds were doing okay. Last, he met up with Janus.

“So, where are we going?” he asked.

“Not sure yet,” Roman said. “That depends on where Logan’s book tells us to go.”

Janus nodded.

“I’m not particularly willing to trust everything he says,” Roman said. “Would you be willing to sit in on my meeting with him after breakfast?”

Janus rolled his eyes. “That is the entire reason I’m assigned to you Roman,” he pointed out.

“It’s still polite to ask,” Roman insisted.

Janus shook his head in exasperation, but there was still a small smile on his lips. “Never stop being a clueless moron, Roman.”

Roman laughed and bumped their shoulders together. “No chance of that,” he assured jollily. Janus just shoved him away. Roman smiled and then, since breakfast seemed to be finished, turned back to his tent.

He smoothed out his expression as he approached the tent and entered through the flap. Logan was seated with his legs folded under him and his eyes closed. His mouth was moving silently.

“What are you doing?” Roman asked. He saw him tense, but he didn’t jump or even open his eyes.

“Practicing Latin verb conjugations,” he answered.

“Why?” Roman asked.

“It’s calming.”

“You really are a nerd, aren’t you?” Roman scoffed.

“Luckily for you,” Logan shot back. “Seeing as I need to be able to read Latin in order to read the book that will lead us to our destination. I presume you don’t speak any foreign languages.”

Roman narrowed his eyes. While the man’s tone was level, Roman was 100% sure it was a snide remark. “This is a foreign language,” Roman informed him. “My third actually. I’m from The North.”

“Ah. Did they sell you?” Logan asked without hesitation.

Where did that question come from? Roman wondered. Irritation flared in defense of his people. “No,” he said. “Of course not.”

“Are you certain?”

“Y-yes,” Roman sputtered. “I’m actually incredibly well respected in both my home country as well as in Mocnejsi.” He was so well respected that when he’d been dissatisfied working under a Mocnejsi general and had wanted to quit the army, he’d been promoted and given his own choice of his underlings.

Yet, despite this being fact, Logan clearly did not completely believe him.

“I was given a high-ranking position in the Mocnejsi army befitting my status in my home country. I’m in line for the Arcadia seat at the table, but even if I wasn’t, my people would never.”

Logan looked at him silently for a long moment.

“I… just get up if you want to eat,” Roman said and reached down to grab him. He stumbled a bit when Roman let go and glared but followed Roman out of the tent without argument.

After another mortifying experience of being hand fed at breakfast, Roman led Logan and Janus back to the tent. Roman had grabbed Logan’s bag and sat on the ground to start pulling the contents out of it. Logan was thankful he was gentle with his possessions even though it was likely because he was worried there might be something in there that he needed and not because he particularly cared about Logan’s things. Logan kept his face carefully expressionless even as Roman’s hand obliviously brushed along the hidden compartment with the knife inside.

When everything was out on the ground, Roman squinted at each of the items. He ignored the Pragilium Text for now, focusing on the other objects. “What’s that?” Roman asked, pointing.

“A compass,” from his dad. Though the man didn’t always understand Logan’s interests, and they had both been fully aware that Logan likely would never get a chance to follow the maps he studied considering his position, the king was still always encouraging and willing to listen. Logan loved that compass even though it never got much use. “It also has a star map engraved on it that could be useful for navigating some of the maps in the book.”

“Weird compass,” Roman commented. He glanced at Janus who nodded to confirm Logan’s words.

“And this?” he asked as he picked up the next object.

“A necklace made of silver and oleald power. Oleald is a useful magical compound that can be used as a substitute ingredient in antidotes for many poisons.” Though, the trace amounts in the necklace were not nearly enough to actually be useful; it only served to produce the ‘pretty sparklies’ as Patton had called them. It also had a tiny note stuff into a hidden compartment in it written by a 10-year-old Patton and covered in hearts.

With a glance at Janus, Roman set it down.

Then he picked up the cloth case.

“Be careful with that,” Logan said before he could stop himself.

Roman paused and looked at him with sudden interest. Logan felt a pit grow in his stomach.

“They’re my glasses,” he explained quickly. “They… I need them to read.”

Janus’s eyes flickered to Logan and Logan grimaced, expecting to be called out for the lie. Yet, Janus just looked away and said nothing.

“Alright,” Roman accepted his words. “In that case, here. You’ll need to read in a few minutes anyway.” He opened the case with careful fingers and unfolded Logan’s glasses before settling them on his face. Logan blinked as the world came into focus. It was the first time he’d ever clearly seen Roman’s face.

_Ugly bastard,_ Logan thought spitefully, uncaring if it was objectively false or not.

“I’m going to untie you now,” Roman said. “Don’t even think about trying anything.”

“What do you expect me to do, Roman?” he asked, allowing some of his exhaustion from the uncomfortable night before to leak into his tone. “Try to stab you with my glasses or dash out of the tent and somehow avoid all of your soldiers to escape into the wilderness?”

Roman did not respond but to pull on the ropes a bit harder than was likely necessary while untying him. Logan breathed a sigh of relief as his arms were freed and quickly did his best to rub feeling back into them.

“Here,” Roman said, shoving the Pragilium Text into his lap. “Now explain how that thing’s going to help us find the prince.”

Logan laid his hand on top of the book. He drew strength from the familiar smooth feel of the cover under his fingers as he considered his words carefully. “The prince is interested in books like these,” he started. “Ones with maps and puzzles always interested him and this one in particular was a fixation of his.” By muscle memory built by countless hours in the castle library puzzling over the pages, he flipped to a page at the end of the introduction without looking. He showed Roman and Janus the picture there. “The Pragilium Text is over five hundred pages of instructions on how to find an entrance to a mystical grotto. It is inaccessible through any other means and has unlimited spawning resources such as food and water. It is the perfect hiding place for the prince as no one else can find it without extensive knowledge and access to this book.

“And how do you have that knowledge?” Roman asked.

“I attended a majority of the prince’s private tutoring sessions and read many of the books he did. I likely know as much as he does on the subject.” Logan watched Janus out of the corner of his eye as he carefully constructed the explanation. The multrum didn’t even blink. Logan felt a flash of smugness about that fact.

Roman looked at him for a long moment. “You must have been close to the prince,” he commented, eyes hard.

“I’m as close as I could possibly be,” Logan answered.

Roman continued to look at him with contempt but didn’t comment on it anymore. “And you’re sure he’s going to be hiding there?”

“If he’s not there already, I know for a fact he will be by the time we arrive.”

Roman looked once again at Janus who inclined his head. “Explain how to use the book,” Roman demanded while turning back to him.

“Very well,” Logan agreed. “There are three tasks that must be completed before one can find the entrance to the grotto. They are designed to test the intelligence and will of the people who seek it in a multitude of ways. The seekers of the grotto must pass through a mirror realm, locate a magical key, and use said key to unlock a disguised lock.”

“That doesn’t sound too hard,” Roman said.

Logan pursed his lips. “It took me over ten years to decipher the instructions and that is after I spent an inordinate amount of time learning the languages and codes used in it.”

Roman shrugged and Logan’s hands itched with the need to punch him. Logan was not a strong man. He spent most of his days seated at a desk pouring over old books and manuscripts when he wasn’t attending to princely duties. However, one of his best friends had been a child assassin and had insisted on teaching him a few things about using a lack of body weight to one’s advantage. Logan could probably do more damage to Roman than the man expected. Of course, with the deal in place, he wouldn’t be able to kill Roman or escape him. So, that move would more than likely end with Logan’s head separated from his body quicker than anticipated.

So, he took a deep breath.

“The first step will be to find the entrance to the mirror realm using this map.” Logan flipped to the correct page to show him.

Roman squinted at it. “That’s a map?”

Logan thought Janus may have snorted. “Yes,” Logan replied blandly. “It details the path through the Kilvar Forest to a clearing in which lies a large mirror between a pair of trees.” He showed them a picture. “Two people must go into the mirror and navigate the realm of shadows within together. The book mentions some hobbles, though it doesn’t specify what these hobbles are. I am unsure if they are randomly assigned, depend on the people performing the task, or if the element of surprise is necessary for it to be a challenge. The text indicates that we will be able to figure out the hobbles once we arrive in the Mirror Clearing. Once the two searchers pass through the pocket dimension in the mirror, they will end up in a different location. This location is the location of the second task, and they must then find the key. After that, they must locate the lock, find the entrance to the grotto, calculate the correct location to place the lock, and unlock it at a specific time of day.” He flipped back to the first map. “We must get to the Kilvar Forest first. I imagine you can find a way there without my input. I’d also suggest you make sure you have enough food for two weeks as well as basic medical supplies and a few basic potion kits. I’ve read up on the forest and there are many dangerous creatures and poisonous plants within. So, we need to be prepared.”

Roman nodded in confirmation and got to his feet. “I will instruct my people of the plan and we’ll make sure to get the supplies you suggest before entering the forest.” His tone was reasonable enough that Logan almost forgot to hate him for a moment. It felt like they were simply two people working together for a common goal. Then… “Hands behind your back.”

Right. Logan pursed his lips but complied. His hands were once again tied behind his back a few moments later. Roman took his glasses off his nose and put them carefully back in their case before packing all of Logan’s possessions back in his bag. Logan mourned the ability to see clearly but wasn’t going to say anything and risk the privilege of using his glasses being held over his head.

“I’m going to go give the others their orders. Watch him until I get back, please,” he said to Janus. Janus nodded to him and he was out of the tent in the next moment.

There was silence for a long time. Logan could feel Janus’s gaze on him.

“Thank you,” Logan finally said, his voice soft. “For not pointing out the lie about the glasses.”

“You’re near sighted,” Janus said.

“Yes,” Logan confirmed.

Janus nodded. “It was an inconsequential lie.” He looked away. “I won’t tell him.”

“I appreciate your kindness,” Logan replied.

“Don’t mention it. Seriously. Don’t.”

Logan wondered if perhaps he’d just somehow gained at least a partial ally in Janus. He was, after all, a multrum and while Roman seemed to treat him with respect, Logan knew how they were often treated in Mocnejsi. Perhaps he could be swayed if Logan found a way to communicate a better option to him. “I won’t,” Logan promised.

They sat in silence until Roman came back to retrieve them.


	4. Negotiation of Terms

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I LOVE Logan in this one. Good for him.

They made it to the Kilvar Forest within three days and Roman chose to set up camp near its edge for the night. The forest was by no means unpassable, but it did have its dangers, mostly of the mystical kind. So, Roman wasn’t planning on entering it until after they got supplies from a nearby village the next day. For now, Roman led Logan to a sign near the entrance to the forest since it was in a language Roman did not recognize.

Roman carefully placed Logan’s reading glasses on his nose. “Can you read this sign?” he asked.

Logan glanced at it. “Yes,” he answered.

“What does it say?”

The man spent a few seconds reading it. “Mostly it is just directions to different locations within the forest. I’ll need to look at my map.”

“Alright. I’ll go get it,” Roman said. “Stay here.” He left Logan at the sign and walked back to camp. The book was in Roman’s tent from where they’d been reviewing it earlier. He was gone a little over 5 minutes and when he returned, Logan was kneeling over a small group of dandelions, hunched over like he might throw up into them. “What are you doing?” Roman asked.

Logan paused and struggled back into a more upright position. He looked up at Roman. “Nothing,” he said quietly, his mouth set in a line. “Tripped. It’s hard to get back up with my arms tied behind my back.” There was a bit of mud on his chin. Had he face planted into the dirt? Okay, Roman might feel a little bad about that one.

He frowned down at him and reached forward to help him off the ground. He considered the man for a moment, the way his teeth clenched so hard Roman might worry he’d have dental problems. Despite Roman’s lingering distaste for the man and his actions, he had been a model prisoner the last 5 days. Roman sighed and decided to give just an inch. “Here,” he said. He spun him around. Logan went tense at the maneuver, but relaxed a bit when Roman untied his arms. He retied them in his front instead. “There, now you can catch yourself if you fall.”

Logan said nothing.

“What?” Roman asked. “No thank you?”

“Thank. You,” he gritted out.

“Good,” Roman said. “Now, here’s the map.” He flipped through the book until he managed to find the first map Logan had showed him before. He turned it so Logan could see. Logan studied it intently for a long moment. “The closest landmark detailed on the sign is the Willowback Tree. We’ll want to take the leftmost path when we come to the first divide. Also, you’ll want to tell your people to get blue pixie dust, unless you want to have vivid hallucinations. There’s a trail warning about a lingering fog about two days along our path.”

“Alright,” Roman agreed. “Does it say anything else?”

Logan hummed and glanced back at camp before meeting his eyes. “Nope,” he said.

Roman nodded and plucked his glass off his face. Logan squinted up at him. “Then let’s go eat dinner.”

Logan followed him back to the camp. Janus was already sitting with a plate of food and Logan sat down in front of him without needing to be told.

“Got an upgrade,” Janus commented, looking up.

“I’m truly getting the royal treatment it would seem,” Logan murmured out of the corner of his mouth. Janus snorted out a laugh.

Roman ignored them and grabbed two plates of beef and vegetables from River. He set down one in front of Logan. “I’ll assume you can feed yourself tonight.” Logan blinked at him and then nodded quickly. He did his best to grab his fork and spear one of the smaller pieces of beef. It was awkward, but he did manage to get it into his mouth.

Roman turned to Janus to discuss plans for the next morning. He heard Logan whisper something behind him and turned to look, but he was just taking a sip of water. Roman studied him and their eyes met as he swallowed. Logan gave him an innocent expression. It was probably some sort of scathing remark about Roman under his breath then.

If he were being honest, Roman could almost feel begrudging respect for how much sass the man managed to keep in his eyes under the circumstances. Almost. Roman could not forget what Logan had done to put himself in this position.

“So,” Roman said half because he wanted to remind himself and half because he was curious. “Tell me about this prince you care so little about that you would give him up so easily.”

Logan looked away from him. “It wasn’t easy.”

“It took you about three seconds,” Roman sneered.

“Just because a decision was quick,” Logan said, refusing to remove his eyes from his plate, “does not mean it was easy.”

Roman scoffed. “Alright. Quickly then. Tell me about the man you gave up so quickly. Do you dislike him?”

“No. I don’t.” Well and that just made it worse didn’t it? At least if Logan had a personal beef against him, he could sort of understand it. It still wouldn’t have been right in Roman’s book, but Roman could maybe swallow it.

“Then how was it so easy, sorry, quick,” Roman corrected, “for you to give him up?”

“It was simply math,” he explained and the lack of emotion on his face made Roman hate him more. “Six people are worth more than one man. There was no question about it.”

“Even when that person is a prince? Your prince?”

“Yes.”

“I doubt he’d agree with you.”

Logan paused then. “He would,” he replied softly.

“Are you sure about that?” Roman asked skeptically.

“Oh, I’d bet my life on that Roman.”

Roman leaned closer to him. “Then you’re a fool,” he said softly. “You think your prince is not a coward that would sell hundreds for his own life? Look at the facts. He hid himself away behind a bunch of enchantments while his people fought a war. Does that sound brave to you? Selfless? Because I think it sounds like the opposite.”

Logan did not flinch. “You have no idea what you’re talking about.”

Roman spat out a chuckle. “And you’re just like him,” he continued as though the man had not spoken. “You said you were saving your companions’ lives, please. The truth of the matter is you were only thinking of yourself, and that’s how you justify it. It’s not as though it were your own life you bartered with after all. Your prince is a coward and so are you.”

The cutting words did not have the impact Roman had wished they would. In fact, the opposite happened. Logan chuckled like Roman had told him some sort of joke. “And you are an idiot,” he said mildly. “Choke on your own spit, Roman.” He dismissed Roman then and took another bite of his food.

Roman pursed his lips, disdain crawling up his throat. “Do you want to sleep with your arms tied behind your back like the first night again?” he asked. Logan shot him a look that made Roman’s teeth set even more on edge, but he didn’t speak. Roman nodded and turned back to his own meal.

Logan looked down at the seemingly innocuous little purple flowers nearby with no small bit of vindictiveness. They had been traveling for 5 days down this path and in that time, they had met a few hardships. Most notably, despite their protection against the warned about hallucinogenic fog, walking through that part of the trail had still made everyone feel sick and they’d been forced to take a day off. There had also been signs of dangerous creatures and one of the soldiers had touched a plant that shot her and the two people nearest to her with poisoned spores. Even after having the antidote, they’d still ended up throwing up for half a day. Logan, despite his book knowledge of the forest, had found himself disconcerted by some of the realities of the journey. Yet, that had been to be expected and so far, nothing major had gone wrong. For him. In fact, something had gone rather right for him if he did say so himself.

See, it had been easy when he read the warning signs at the beginning of this trail to leave out one little detail especially with Janus not within earshot. It had also been easy for him to craft a rudimentary potion with barely any supplies. The cooks seasoned their meat with sage most nights which was half of the ingredients needed for a specific protection potion Logan had memorized. It had been easy work to find an edible yellow flower, and he’d had no problems biting a dandelion off its stem when Roman’s back had been turned. He’d tucked it into his cheek to wait for dinner. He’d even been in luck as Roman had tied his hands in front of him that night allowing him to eat on his own. He’d separated a piece of burnt sage from the meat with his teeth, whispered a quick incantation over his water canister before taking a sip, and chewed the ingredients together into a potion that tingled in his mouth and throat.

The potion should last for about 3 months meaning Logan could happily tromp through as many Cisibelium flowers as he pleased with zero consequences.

He could not, however, say the same for his traveling companions. Though Janus had recognized the plants and warned the other’s off, it had been too late for most of them, including Roman to Logan’s absolute and total delight. It was very, very hard to keep the self-satisfied smirk off his face.

Roman had already started to complain about the fact that the journey to the Mirror Clearing was taking so long, especially since Logan had gotten confused a couple of time and they’d had to double back. Now he was complaining even louder as the sores on his arms and face got worse and worse.

“This is the worst thing that has ever happened to me,” Roman whined dramatically to Janus.

Suffer. Logan thought.

“They’re all over my face! Do I look truly hideous?”

“Not at all,” Janus replied.

That was a blatant falsehood; Roman looked horrible and would only look and feel worse as the sores spread and filled with puss.

“That means I do,” Roman whined, seeming to realize Janus was being deceitful. “My life is a nightmare.”

Logan was unable to keep from snorting and Roman turned on him in a moment, eyes blazing. Oops. Logan forgot amidst his whining like a toddler who didn’t get a nap that day that Roman was actually a dangerous enemy solider with no love lost on Logan. While he would just dramatically whine at his comrades, Logan was in danger of getting the brunt of his ire. Logan tried to smooth out his features, but Roman apparently caught something on his face because he spat, “and why don’t you have any purple sores crusting on your skin?”

“I know what Cisibelium looks like,” Logan defended.

Roman studied him carefully and then stepped over to him, his shoulders drawn back and eyes intense. The people around them stopped talking. “Are you playing a game with me?” Roman asked, searching his face. Logan refused to take a step back when he was suddenly being loomed over even as his breath froze in his lungs at the question, because yes, Logan was playing a game with him.

Roman seemed unsatisfied with Logan’s unwillingness to be cowed and reached up to shove at Logan’s chest until he stumbled back into a tree. Roman’s hand came up to his throat, not pushing at all, just there. For now, at least. “Hmm, Logan,” he asked. “Are you playing a game? Are you stalling so I can’t find the prince?”

Janus was there over his shoulders, watching the interaction intently. Logan would have to speak carefully. “I’m not stalling,” he gritted out. “You are as close as you can be to the prince at this point in our journey. I haven’t in any way tried to slow your capture of the prince since we made the deal. The location we are searching for is made to be difficult to find. It is not my fault that we are having trouble with the maps. It is simply a fact of life. And I didn’t tell you to go traipsing through a bed of toxic flowers. Though,” he bared his teeth. “I do quite enjoy your misery.”

He pushed forward with just a bit of pressure against Logan’s neck. It still was not enough to hurt or to obstruct Logan’s airway, but it was enough to make Logan gulp. “And I should believe that?”

“Not that I care if you strangle our guide to death because you can’t recognize Cisibelium flowers, but he isn’t lying,” Janus said, sounding bored.

Roman’s mouth firmed and he continued to look at Logan suspiciously. “And why,” he asked, “is it that your skin is not growing purple sores?”

“Because I’m not an idiot.”

“No,” Roman said firmly, and Logan started to feel a bit more than nervous with how he was latching onto this. “I saw some of it touch you. Why did it not affect you like it did me?”

“I was inoculated,” Logan said truthfully.

“When were you inoculated, exactly?” 

Well. End of the line. Logan pressed his lips together.

“It’s a simple question Logan.”

“…Six days ago, after I read the warnings on the sign at the beginning of the path.”

“You. Bastard.” Logan was surprised with the way his muscles went tense and his mouth turned down that the hand on his throat didn’t press down harder. “How do we fix it? Clearly whatever you did took very few supplies.”

Logan took a deep breath but managed to feign indifference. “That wasn’t part of our deal.”

“Part of the…?” Roman’s fist slammed against the tree next to Logan’s face. Logan only flinched a bit. “I am the person who decides when and how you eat, where you sleep, and if you get a beating today.”

Logan had to summon every drop of steel in his royal blood to spit back, “and I decide if you’re going to be leaking purple puss from every inch of your skin come morning.”

There was a long pause and then Roman’s eyes narrowed into slits. Surprisingly, his grip on Logan’s neck actually loosened. “You want something.”

“Oh, I want a lot of things,” Logan shot back. _Your head on a platter for one_. “But, I’ll settle for not being restrained anymore while in your custody.”

He watched Logan for a few long moments. “Fine,” he spat finally. “Fine. You’ll need your hands for whatever potion will fix this anyway, but if you try to run or hurt anyone here, I will make you suffer for it.”

“I can’t run you dolt,” Logan hissed, fed up with this ignorant man who clearly didn’t know or understand the rules of the blood deal he made. “It specifically goes against the terms of the deal, and with that in mind, doing harm to anyone here would be extremely stupid as I’d only be punished for it.”

“Fine,” he replied. He grabbed his knife from his waist and reached down to cut through the ropes around Logan’s wrist. He shoved Logan a bit when he was done, and Logan stumbled back a step. “Now fix it.”


	5. Unspecified Omissions

Roman had barely slept the last three nights. He simply was unable to relax with Logan unbound. Roman had a duty to all of the members in his troupe and while Logan hadn’t done anything yet, that didn’t mean he wouldn’t if the opportunity presented itself. It was hard to sleep next to a person you couldn’t trust.

That combined with long days walking through The Forest from Hell made him, honestly, a little bit testy. Logan seemed to be wise enough to give him a wide breadth when he had a choice. He was currently wondering around with his giant book in his hands as though this forest wasn’t a death trap. Of course, to be fair, it didn’t seem to be for him.

No, the Cisibelium flowers were not the only examples of him being better prepared for the forest than everyone else. To his credit, he had always warned them of life-threatening dangers when he could, and now that his arms were free, he didn’t try any more tricks with nonlethal things. He’d even scrounged up an antidote for Theo when the boy had eaten berries he wasn’t supposed to. Logan hadn’t even demanded anything for it. For once.

Yet, despite his help there were still hypnotizing snakes, attack badgers, and hallucinogenic mushrooms that they’d had to contend with. And that was just in the last few days. It seemed as they went deeper into the forest, it tried to murder them with more gusto.

Roman shot a glare at Logan as he scrutinized the book in his arms from behind his glasses. Roman swore he hadn’t put that thing away for more than five minutes since his hands had been freed. As Roman watched, he reached his hand up to peel some type of growth off a tree, licked it, and then nodded. He stuck whatever it was into his bag. This was not the first instance of him doing something like that. And yet, he was still perfectly fine. Roman accidently touched the wrong tree earlier and almost got his arm bit off by it. Roman _hated_ him.

“Are you attempting to murder him with your eyes?” Janus asked. “Surely that will work.”

“Janus,” Roman said calmly. “You are a fantastic friend and I care deeply about you.” He turned to look at him. “Shut up or I will hold your head under the next body of water we come across.”

“Lie.”

“I hate it when you do that, oh my god!”

“It’s not like it’s literally the only reason I’m with you,” Janus said dryly.

“You job isn’t to do it to _me_ ,” Roman argued.

“Ah, but how else would I entertain myself?”

“Today is not a good day for it,” Roman groused.

Janus had the audacity to roll his eyes. “Would you just get over it and sleep for god’s sake Roman.”

“I’m sorry that I can’t let my guard down with an unbound enemy in my tent at night! I don’t trust him. He’s up to something.”

“Why don’t you put him in a different tent?”

“And not be able to look over and see what dastardly plans he’s enacting? Not likely!”

“Literally all he’s done since you’ve untied him is read that book and eat random plants that somehow haven’t caused his death yet. Plus, he can’t lie when I’m around.”

Roman stared at him for a moment and then pointed at Logan. “Tell me _that_ doesn’t look suspicious,” Roman said. Logan was a few yards ahead of him and had crouched down to peer at a flower.

“That…” Janus said, for once his usual sarcasm absent from his tone, “does not look suspicious.”

“Do you even remember what happened the last time I caught him kneeling over a flower?” Roman asked hotly. “We don’t know what that flower is or any of the random things he’s picked up the last couple of days. For all we know, he’s planning to poison me.”

“You aren’t paranoid,” Janus drawled.

“It makes sense. He clearly knows a lot about poisons.”

“He’s _licked_ most of them.”

“Maybe he’s immune to the poison.”

“Oh, my go- Logan! Are any of the plants your picking up poisonous?!” he called.

Logan turned to look back at them. “Technically the Bonjie root, but only in quantities much larger than my sample. Other than that, no.”

“See,” Janus said. “He’s not lying. No poisoning imminent.”

“I still don’t trust him.”

Janus opened his mouth to respond which was when there was sudden screaming from behind them. They both whipped around to see Hadley hoisted high into the air by a giant blue vine thing. _What_ was that?!

Roman drew his sword and started moving forward on instinct. He barely avoided another vine as it lunged and tried to grab for him. Dozens more were converging in on them from all sides. There were a few more screams as more bodies were yanked off their feet.

“Go north!” he instructed and dodged to the left and further down the path as the vines were less concentrated there for now. He and Janus got separated by a vine and the other man got swept up in the next moment.

“It’s a terrakraki,” Logan shouted at him like he should know what that means. He was already hanging upside down himself from one of the vines.

“A what?!”

“A Land Kraken,” Logan shouted. “Just kill its head!”

“What head?!”

“The head, idiot! It has to be somewhere!”

“Where?!” Roman asked. The vines seemed to be coming from everywhere. He swiped at one of them with his sword, but it didn’t even make a dent.

“How should I know?!”

“You’re the expert! Ugh!” He tried to dodge again, but at that moment, one of the vines wrapped tightly around his chest, and he was lifted off his feet.

Logan groaned when he saw Roman get picked up by the terrakraki. Panic swelled in Logan’s chest, but he needed to keep a cool head. Roman was struggling violently in its grip and he and the others were being swung around for their efforts.

What did Logan know? Terrakraki: blueish green tentacles, carnivorous, has rejuvenations properties, only eats living prey, lived in temperate slightly dry areas, offspring weighed around 250kg when they are born, can only be killed easily if you stab it in the head, the males were slightly smaller, they didn’t have good eyesight and mostly used their sense of smell, mostly lived in large canyons so there was likely a canyon around here, but Logan hadn’t seen one on a map. Of course, the map in his book didn’t detail much about the terrain and there weren’t many good maps of this part of the forest from other sources. Probably because it was a location that had things like terrakrakis and people trying to make maps got _eaten_. Like Logan was going to be if he didn’t _think_ of something to do with all of the information rolling around his head.

“Don’t move!” Roman barked suddenly. “It fights you more if you struggle.” Because it eats live prey and so focuses in on things that are moving more. In fact, it was barely doing anything to Logan. He was just hanging in its grip. Yet, even if they were all still, it would still be able to tell they were alive and would eventually eat them even without a struggle. But… if he was trying to find the head since that was the only place on its body he could do much damage…

He needed a tool. His book was on the ground not that it would do much good in this situation, but his bag was still attached to his back. What was in his bag? His plant samples, but none the creature was vulnerable to, a bit of leftovers from breakfast, but nothing the creature would eat and not nearly enough to fill it, the compass from his dad, the necklace from Patton, the knife from Virgil. The knife.

Well, he was going to die by the end of this trip anyway. Might as well take the chance trying to stab a giant tentacle monster with a knife. Luckily the thing had picked him up by the calf and his hands were free. He stuck his hand into the bag and easily found the hidden pouch, grabbing the knife out of it. When he had a firm grip on it, he started to struggle.

“What are you doing?” Roman asked. “I just told you not to struggle!”

“I have a plan!” Logan shot back. “Everyone else stay still.”

He kicked at it with his free leg and flopped around in its grip the best he could. Apparently, everyone listened to him enough not to distract the terrakraki from him and he felt himself being lifted and turned. He was being drawn towards its mouth, usually a bad thing, but in this case, it would inevitably bring him closer to its most vulnerable area.

There. He could finally see its head. It was small compared to most of its body, but still quite large and it stared at him from its perch on a giant tree branch. Logan continued to put up a fight as he was drawn closer and closer. It opened its maw wide as he approached and Logan shot his arm forward with the knife, stabbing up sharply through the roof of its mouth towards the thing’s brain. He pulled it out quickly, worried it might bite down on his arm on instinct.

It started to scream, a horribly shrill sound that made Logan want to throw up more than hanging upside down already had. Then, it dropped him. Logan fell a few feet but got caught on a tree branch which luckily slowed his fall but still smarted horribly. He then toppled down hitting more branches on his descent and landed at the base of the tree winded.

The terrakraki was still screaming, Logan noted as he tried to breathe through the pain of the impact. He heard thumps as the vines holding the others started to drop limply to the ground. Most of their falls would be cushioned well unlike Logan’s.

After a few moments, Logan slowly stood up, accessing the damage as he went. Things ached and he was surely scraped up and bruised, but he thought he was mostly okay.

The other members of the party were struggling to remove themselves from the limp tentacles including Roman. Logan was surprised for a moment when, upon getting himself detangled from the dead limb he’d been trapped in, Roman immediately came at Logan like an angry bull.

“And where they hell did that come from?” he spat as he strode over to him.

Logan blinked down at the bloodied knife in his hand. Right. “It… I just had it.”

“Oh, you just had it, did you?” Roman mocked, close enough now that he was able to rip the knife out of Logan’s hand. He didn’t even try to intimidate Logan into cowering back this time. Instead he shoved Logan back into the tree he’d fallen in front of. Logan gasped in pain as his injuries were jostled. “How fucking interesting.”

“I just saved your life,” Logan pointed out when he was able to pull in a breath again.

“You saved your own life! As usual! Don’t pretend like you were trying to help me. I don’t take kindly to bullshit.”

“It is not bullshit.”

“Isn’t it?” Logan barely suppressed a flinch as Roman waved the knife in front of his face. “Then what were you going to do with this, huh? Planning to kill me?” He tapped the knife against Logan’s cheek smearing the blue-black blood from the terrakraki across his cheek. Logan went still, his breath catching at the feeling of wet steel against his skin.

“No,” Logan rasped.

“I don’t believe you,” Roman spat at him.

Logan turned his eyes to Janus, using his frustration to smother his fear. “Does he not know _anything?_ ”

Roman glanced back at Janus.

“He’s not allowed to kill or injure you to a severe degree. It’s implicit in the deal.”

“Oh,” Roman said, and Logan couldn’t help by flinch when the knife came dangerously close to cutting him when Roman distractedly moved it. “Does that mean I can’t hurt him either?”

“Not in how the deal was phrased. Injuring you severely enough or killing you would make it impossible for him to complete the deal he is bound to. The blood bond won’t allow it, but if you injure him, it wouldn’t prevent you from completing your end of the bargain.”

“Interesting.” Yeah, Logan thought bitterly; he just bet it was. “I’m still keeping the knife.” Logan just glared back at him while the terrakraki blood was wiped off with a rag and stuffed into Roman’s waist band next to where his sword usually went. He then turned on his heel to check on his soldiers without another word to Logan.

Janus, however, did not turn away, continuing to watch Logan.

Logan looked up to meet his eyes. “Would it be an option to get some bandages?”

“Are you hurt?” he asked.

“I’ll live.”

“That’s not what I asked.”

“I know that’s not what you asked,” Logan snapped. Then he sighed. “Just… please?”

“I… of course,” Janus said. He turned away to go look for supplies and Logan slumped against the tree behind him. The rest of this walk would not be pleasant.


	6. A Mirror Between Two Trees

Logan was much more subdued after the terrakraki attack, Roman noted. He spent less time bending over to grab random plant samples and spent more time at the back of the party, moving slower. He was pouting over his missing deadly weapon, Roman assumed, clenching his teeth.

Janus kept throwing Roman side-eyed looks that he was far too tired to attempt to decipher.

“We’re coming up on a clearing,” Maddox called from the front of the group.

“Don’t move forward until I’m up there,” Roman ordered as he and Janus rushed forward. Of course, no one in the party seemed inclined to rush into a random clearing after the week and a half they’d spent in these god forsaken woods. “Logan, come here,” he demanded.

The called man made his way to the front of the group. He slowly set down his bag and bent over to grab the book and his reading glasses out of it. He flipped to a page a few chapters in and looked at the page at the beginning of the chapter. He walked forwards to the edge of the clearing and squinted at one of the trees. He traced a mark in the bark and then looked back at his book. “This is the mirror clearing,” he announced. “According to the book, the mirror should be somewhere in the north of it held between an alder tree and a birch tree.”

“Aren’t alder trees more of a wetlands tree?” Roman asked with a frown. “There’s hardly any water around here.” Roman had started to grow worried that they would run out of water soon since they hadn’t come upon a river or pond in a few days.

“I’m sure magic cares, Roman,” Janus drawled. Roman shoved his shoulder lightly.

“Is there anything dangerous in the clearing?” Roman asked.

“Nothing that is specified in the text, but there could always be secret ones intentionally laid as traps or natural ones around.”

Roman nodded and turned back to the others. “Proceed with caution, but start looking for the mirror,” Roman instructed.

The group entered the clearing and started the search, but it would turn out that the mirror wasn’t difficult to find. There were only four trees inside the boundary of the clearing. Two were alders and two were birches. Each held a mirror between them, one to the north and one directly opposite of it to the south.

Logan resolutely walked to the one on the northern side of the clearing.

“What’s the other mirror for?” Roman asked.

Logan’s eyes flickered to him. “I highly doubt we want to know.”

“…Right.”

Logan paused. “Actually, knowing the laws of magic, you might want to tell your people to give it a wide breadth. It’s likely a trap meant for people who did not decode the book completely before beginning.” He then turned to scrutinize the correct mirror.

Roman quickly passed on the instructions to Everly and Harlow before returning to stand next to Logan. Logan spent probably an hour and a half studying the mirror, it’s frame, and the tree holding it. Despite Roman’s impatience and his dislike of the man personally, he didn’t dare interrupt.

“Mizaru and Iwazaru,” Logan said finally.

“What?” Roman asked.

“There are three wise monkeys known as Mizaru, Kikazauru, and Iwazaru,” Logan explained. “The names are derived from the Japanese words for ‘see not,’ ‘hear not,’ and ‘speak not’ respectively. You may have heard the phrase ‘See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil.’ On the Birch tree, there is an etching clearly meant to represent these three, but on the Alder tree there are only two. On the top of the mirror frame, the phrase ‘but you may both hear it’ is etched into the wood. Those must be the hobbles I spoke of. Two go into the mirror, but one must blind themself and the other mustn’t speak. As the book reads, the two must make it through the mirror realm together and exit the other side.” He stepped away from the mirror. “Clearly, I’ll have to go as my knowledge will likely be needed in the mirror realm or on the other side.”

“And I’m not sending any of my people in there alone with you, so I guess I’ll be your partner. You can be the blind one.”

Logan scoffed. “I’m torn up about the fact that you won’t be able to speak the entire time.”

Roman didn’t need to hear Janus spit out a chuckle to know what the intending meaning of that was, yet he chose to ignore the insult. It was interesting that he could figure out how to use sarcasm effectively without being able to recognize it from others most of the time. And by interesting, Roman meant annoying. “Since we don’t know where we’ll come out, where would we meet back up with the rest of my soldiers.”

“Milinesie,” Logan responded without hesitation. “It is an outpost on the more traveled forest path and only a few days travel from here. They should be able to get to it if they are cautious even without my knowledge of the forest.”

Roman nodded. “Janus, you and Harlow will be in charge,” Roman said. “Get them there safely?” Janus nodded. “Is now an okay time to go or should we wait until tomorrow?” Roman asked.

“Today is likely best,” Logan answered. “We will have plenty of light before dark on the other side.”

“Okay,” Roman said. “I’ll get a pack for us ready with supplies and make sure everyone knows what’s happening.”

About twenty minutes later, they were gathered back at the mirror.

“Should we blindfold you?” Roman asked.

Logan shook his head. “That’s the point of the challenge. I must choose not to look on my own power and you mustn’t make a sound on yours.”

“Okay,” Roman said. “Ready?” Logan nodded and shut his eyes. “What happens if one of us fails?” he asked.

“It doesn’t say, but I’d imagine we’d die a horrible death,” Logan answered without opening his eyes.

“Right,” Roman replied.

“Now shut up and let’s go.”

Roman rolled his eyes, but he did keep his mouth firmly closed as he set a hand on the other man’s shoulder. He pushed gently to guide Logan a step forward towards the mirror. After a few more steps, all of Logan and Roman’s hand disappeared through it. His hand felt a bit cooler than the rest of him. Roman glanced back at Janus one more time. He got a nod in return and then Roman closed his eyes and stepped forward. He shuddered a bit as he stepped into the mirror.

When he opened his eyes, he was on a path that looked like it would be a vibrant yellow if there wasn’t a sickly green tint to the entire world they’d stepped into. He could see down the path clearly, but there were walls of fog on either side of it. He bit the inside of his cheek and breathed deeply before pushing on Logan’s shoulder again to get him walking.

As they stepped down the path, images began to take shape in the fog. At first, they were just slightly darker blobs littering the landscape on either side, but as they progressed, they started to take shape. With a start, he realized exactly what the blobs were. They were bodies.

They were hundreds and hundreds of bodies, laying stacked and mutilated at the side of the path they were on. He paused upon this realization, but then pushed on.

He quickly began to wish he’d suggested he be the one with his eyes closed.

The magic of this place was certainly… inventive. Or perhaps it simply had a record of all of the horribly grizzly deaths that had ever happened on the planet and freely conjured them here. Though many of the bodies were faceless, they were all bloody or burnt or ripped apart. Roman’s stomach started to turn. As though the realm had read his mind and wanted to test him on that, he could suddenly smell it. Decay and burnt flesh teased at his nose. Logan made a slight sound, answering Roman’s question as to whether or not the scent was only in Roman’s head. As they walked silently down the path, Roman tried to keep his eyes on the road, but he found his gaze drawn to the horror before him as he kept pushing Logan further down the path. This was a nightmare come to bloody, detailed, life.

What was worse was that, after a few minutes, he suddenly realized the faces on the bodies were becoming clearer to the point where he could make out many of their features and gaze into their lifeless eyes. As he continued to look, some of the faces started to repeat. As much as he didn’t want to, he began paying more and more attention to the bodies, tracking the patterns.

Among the piles of the dead, three faces kept showing up killed in worse ways every time. Two of them he did not recognize: a man old enough to be Roman’s father and a skinny man who looked a couple of years younger than Roman. Yet, he realized, the third, he knew.

He couldn’t help but gasp when he realized. “Do _not_ speak,” Logan reminded him harshly, his eyes squeezing shut even harder. Roman wanted to bristle at the reminder, but he couldn’t as his mind screamed to somehow release the knowledge now in his head. Instead, he looked at the back of Logan’s head and squeezed his shoulder briefly in acknowledgement.

This was not just a nightmare, Roman thought as they once again passed the mangled body of a man Roman had met only once before: Patton. Patton, the man who had railed against Logan’s decision back at the carriage when they’d met even with a sword at his throat. He’d been one of the people Logan had sacrificed the life of the prince for. In fact, if Roman remembered correctly, threatening him had been what caused Logan to speak up in the first place. This, Roman realized, this was _Logan’s_ nightmare.

Logan was no fool. He could tell by the wretched smell that had met his nose and the way Roman’s hand twitched against his shoulder every so often that whatever sight would meet Logan’s eyes if he were to open them would be truly horrifying. It wasn’t too much of a surprise considering that the challenge had to mean something. Having them walk through the mirror realm without tempting them to break the rules would have been silly.

And it was a temptation. Logan liked to have all the information possible in any given circumstance. He very much did not like not knowing what was going on around him, and he couldn’t even inquire after that information from his companion. He did not like having this handicap, but he could grit his teeth and bear it.

He still felt his anxiety over the situation climb despite his resolve. With his eyes closed, the strain of Roman’s breath became more and more apparent by the moment. He was starting to worry the man might break and start talking. It was impossible to know what would happen if they broke the rules of the mirror. He assumed nothing good.

However, Logan could speak, and he would use that to his advantage. He kept his eyes carefully closed but opened his mouth. “If me speaking is unwanted or distracting, squeeze my shoulder three times.” Nothing happened. “Okay,” he breathed and thought for a moment. “Have you ever made cookies from scratch?” he asked but didn’t wait for an answer. “My friend Patton’s favorite type of cookie is mint chocolate chip, specifically from a recipe that his mother invented. She’s the head chef at the castle and very much earned her place. She likely could have with those cookies alone. She taught me how to make them when I was a child in case she ever couldn’t. I could make them blind.”

He cracked a small smile as they continued to walk. Thinking about the recipe and the warmth of the castle kitchen, he let himself reach into the air in front of them as though searching for ingredients in familiar cabinets.

“First, you need three bowls,” he said while miming the action of getting them from the farthest cabinet to the left. “The butter and sugar go into the large bowl, the dry ingredients go into the medium sized bowl, and the eggs go into the smallest bowl. The butter and sugar you want to cream together. It’s a motion like this.” He made a bowl shape with one arm and used the opposite to mime the correct motion. “Then you mix together the dry ingredients before mixing them into the wet ones.” He mimed that as well. Then, he proceeded to mime the rest of the steps as he said them. As he spoke, he felt his own anxiety start to lessen and Roman’s hand gentled on his shoulder. “Then, you put them in the oven for 9 minutes and 13 seconds exactly. Patton always laughs when I stand near the oven and count out those last 13 seconds, but it’s always perfect when I do. He tells me ‘you of all people could actually get baking down to a science.’ He always eats at least two and makes me eat some as well.” Logan dropped his hands. “I’ve been doing that since I was seven years old.”

There was a beat of silence.

“Would you like me to continue speaking?” he asked. “Squeeze once for yes, twice for you don’t care, and three times for no.”

There was one clear squeeze to his shoulder.

“Okay,” Logan said, relieved. “I’ve spoken about Patton, so, perhaps I should speak of Virgil next.” He paused and a small smile pulled at his lips. “Virgil is like a kitten, though he’d vehemently resent me saying so. Ironically,” he laughed, “he’d likely hiss at me for saying such a thing. Anyway,” he shook his head. “He’s recently become the head of the castle gardens, but when there isn’t much to do in the summer, he’ll venture off into the many different bushes and trees. He always manages to find the perfect patch of shade to lay in so you’re still warm but don’t get burnt by the sun. I see him from the window of the library often and will follow him out there on days I am not busy,” he chuckled slightly, “and on somedays that I am. Of course, I must take a book on those excursions as my mind cannot be idle half as long as his, but I’ll sit next to him and read while he naps the day away. He somehow always manages to migrate into sprawling across my lap by the end of it. Though he denies that he does so on purpose, he always whines if I stop petting his hair for too long. We’re always hidden so well that the only people who know the gardens well enough to find us are Patton and my father. The problem of course being that if Patton is sent to fetch us, he inevitably gets too distracted by the ‘cute’ scenes and comes to lay with us himself. Father often has to come find us in the end.”

“Father always pretends to be frustrated with us (especially when I have been shrinking my duties), but I can tell he isn’t truly angry. He’s always laughing by the end of it anyway. After all, who could stay mad when Virgil’s looking at them with his big watery eyes. Father certainly never could. Not from the day he’d met him. Though he probably should have given the circumstances. But, as I said, Virgil is basically a kitten and no one can be mad at a kitten even when it tries to shred you to pieces with its claws… or at least that’s what Patton always says when he comes back with claw marks after trying to pet the feral cats around the castle.”

There was another squeeze on his shoulder, so Logan kept talking. “Father likes to join me in the library sometimes. He… doesn’t always understand my fascination with books, especially the ones like the Pragilium text, but he never tried to dissuade me from my hobbies even while most parents in his position might.” Logan paused. “He’s a good parent. I think he understands what it means to me even if he doesn’t know why. I started going to the library a lot when I was only six. It was right after my other father died. I have a desk of my own set up even though it is a library open for everyone in the castle. He’ll sit with me quietly when I study. He even one day helped me pick out the best chair in the library to put at the desk. We spent the entire afternoon sitting in different chairs. It was silly but, it meant a lot to me. He’s busy often so sometimes the silly moments are the most precious.” Logan paused, swallowing his emotions. “Would you like me to keep speaking?” There was another squeeze. “Very well.” He continued to tell other stories. While he said nothing that might give him away, he talked about his life and the people he loved. The fond memories kept his head on straight despite the horrid smell and the itch to open his eyes and see what was going on.

Then, suddenly, there was a voice. It was light and soft like a child whispering in the dark. From the way Roman jumped and how tense his hand became on Logan’s shoulder, he imagined he must be hearing it too. “You will find yourself in tumult waters, travelers. Yet, you must swim through the danger to find what you seek.”

And then, they were falling forward. Logan could tell by the change in air temperature and smell that they were out of the mirror, but he still kept his eyes squeezed shut until Roman spoke. “We’re out,” he sighed. Logan opened his eyes.


	7. Arc 2: Reflections | Chapter 6: Through the Looking Glass

Logan opened his eyes to stare at the sky for a long moment. The sound of running water met his ears and the scent of moss and wet dirt hit his nose. He turned his head and found himself staring at a large pond with a stunning waterfall cascading down a steep slope of rocks into it. The water glowed strangely in places and the trees surrounding it seemed to all be from different climates. They currently were sprawled out at the base of another Alder tree (or perhaps the same one as magic worked in strange ways). Yet, there was no sign of a mirror.

He glanced the other way to see Roman laid out in a similar manner to himself. Neither of them seemed inclined to move for a long time.

Eventually, Logan pulled himself into a sitting position. “We should start moving,” he said. “We’ll need to go find your people so we can come back here and search for the key in the pond.”

Roman slowly sat up and nodded. “You’re right. Do you know where we are?”

“Give me a moment,” Logan requested. He removed his backpack and found his glasses. Then, he flipped to the main map of the Kilvar Forest. There wasn’t much water in the forest besides one river. Usually he wouldn’t trust a map to clearly mark a small area such as this pond but considering this map was made for this very purpose, he imagined whoever (or whatever) drew it would have likely made a point to mark this location well. He grabbed out his compass and squinted at the sun, doing some calculations in his head. Then he traced a finger down the river. “Here,” he finally said, fairly confident. As he touched the space, a red circle appeared beneath his finger. “Oh!” Logan said. “I’ve never had the book change on me before.”

“It is a magical book,” Roman pointed out, but he also seemed interested in the change. He reached out a finger to touch the new mark himself.

“Well yes,” Logan agreed, staring at the new marking on the map he knew so well with no small amount of awe, “but I’ve had it in my possession for many years.” This was a concrete marking of success. It was a milestone in the adventure he’d always dreamed of taking while sitting in the library pouring over books in foreign languages. He’d thought he’d never have this opportunity with his duties to the crown. He’d certainly never thought it would be under these circumstances. He sobered a bit at the thought. It was one more step along the adventure of his dreams, but also one more step in a funeral march. He died at the end of these pages, but he guessed the death was fitting. His careful fingers smoothed the map out a bit. What a way to go. “We’re less than a four days trip to the rendezvous point,” he told Roman. “We may even encounter your troupe before we get there.”

“Okay,” Roman said. “We have a few hours to walk before dark. I say let’s get started.” Logan nodded his agreement and they started down the route Logan had found on the map. They snacked on jerky on the way so they wouldn’t have to stop for meals, and at this rate, would make quite a bit of progress by sundown

Perhaps it was the lingering desire to fill the silence as he had done in the mirror world or perhaps it was a desire to have someone to talk to about their shared experience, but Logan found himself trying to converse with Roman as they walked that day.

“What was in the mirror?” he asked.

“It’s none of your concern,” Roman brushed him off harshly while keeping his eyes resolutely ahead of him instead of even glancing at Logan.

He rankled a bit at the dismissive tone but shook it off. “It smelled of death. I am not stupid, nor do I have a weak constitution. You can tell me.”

Roman said nothing in response. They walked without speaking for a long time.

“If,” Logan broke the heavy silence between them finally, “it was as traumatizing of a sight as I imagine it was, you should probably speak about it. My friend told me things like that ‘settle into your bones if you never let them out and they are much harder to excavate later.’ You should talk about it and soon.”

“Not to you,” Roman said firmly, and that shouldn’t hurt.

…

It didn’t hurt. Logan refused to allow that to hurt. Roman was a horrible person, his captor, and the man who would surely end his life the second he learned of Logan’s trickery. They had managed to put aside their differences long enough to complete the first task, but there was nothing more to the story. It did not matter that it felt as though Logan had bared a bit of his soul in the mirror realm. It did not matter that he’d let slip those small, soft parts of himself that he usually only offered to three people in the world.

So, no, that didn’t hurt.

Logan resolutely glued his mouth shut after that. It had been stupid for him to even contemplate that the joint experience may have bonded them past the moment. In fact, as he walked, he began to remember everything that had come before the mirror. It helped that his ribs started to ache more and more as they walked throughout the day. The pain was a reminder of what had happened only days before. Logan had fallen from great heights in an effort to save Roman and his entire troupe and then had a knife pressed to his throat for the effort. If they hadn’t needed to continue on their journey, Logan was sure he would have paid for keeping the knife from him more than just being forced to walk while everything ached. Logan imagined that once they were safe in Milinesie that the punishment for that was still on the table. That knowledge smarted worse than the bruises under his clothes.

Logan was not hurt. Logan was angry.

As they continued their walk until about an hour before sunset, Logan made a point to remember every moment of pain and embarrassment Roman had inflicted on him since they’d first met. The fire of anger burned away anything else.

The silence between them grew thicker and thicker. Logan imagined it wouldn’t break until they met back up with the others.

Logan was wrong.

“And what do we have here?” a voice asked as the sun was getting lower in the sky. Roman could tell just by the way she held herself that she was trouble. Not to mention the already drawn sword and the vicious smile on her face. Her and her companion had appeared out of seemingly nowhere without even the sound of footsteps to announce them and were now blocking Roman and Logan’s path forward.

“We don’t want trouble,” Logan said, and Roman barely resisted rolling his eyes. Those two were clearly here specifically for trouble.

“Well, in that case, we better get going, huh, Barney?” She elbowed the person beside her with a snort. Roman drew his sword then, but she just smiled. In the next moment, they were fighting, and Roman found himself quickly outmatched. The terrain was rougher than he was used to and the path too tight. Yet, she seemed as though she’d likely lived in this area for a long time and her much lighter sword served her well.

After a quick scuffle, Roman ended up with his sword on the ground and hers against his neck. They watched each other for a moment, panting and then she tapped him playfully on the nose with the tip of her sword. “On your knees,” she demanded. He swallowed and obeyed. She quickly grabbed some rope and tied him up tightly before rounding him to face him again.

“What do you want?” he asked.

She smirked and leaned on her sword. “What do you have?”

“Not much,” he answered honestly. “Barely enough supplies to get us back to town and little of any value.”

“Hmmm,” she mused. “We’ll see about that. Search his friend.”

The man, ‘Barney’ had stepped between them to cut Logan off from the fight even if none of them believed Logan would have been of any help.

“Perhaps we can come to some sort of peaceful deal,” Logan suggested.

Barney chuckled and brandished his knife, the message about who was in control clear to Roman, though there was no fear in Logan’s face. “Yeah, see, I don’t think so,” he said. He moved the knife an inch closer to Logan’s face and Logan’s hand shot out without warning. With the element of surprise, he managed to wrestle it from his hand despite the large discrepancy in muscle mass. With zero hesitation, he flipped the weapon around and stabbed Barney in the stomach. The bandit went down, and Logan calmly followed him, pressing the now bloodied blade to his throat.

He looked at Barney for a moment with a chillingly emotionless expression as the other man gasped and whined in surprise and pain. Then, he slowly looked up at the man’s partner standing agape near Roman.

“The wound I just inflicted,” he informed them all softly, “will likely not kill him if treated soon.” He titled his head. “It would kill him if I were to slit his throat.” Barney made a terrified whimpering sound.

“Holy fuck,” was the response from the woman. Roman had to agree.

“I will let him go if you put down your weapons and allow us to leave.”

“Fuck. Shit.”

“Panicking is not the most productive use of your brain power at this time,” Logan chided coolly as he angled the knife against the injured man’s neck; he let out a fearful whine. “I suggest you remove your weapons now.”

She spent one more moment in a still panic before moving to obey. She let the sword clatter to the ground and removed the knife from her waist. She didn’t even seem to think of trying anything, not that Roman could blame her. Logan was terrifying at that moment. Logan crooked a finger and she cautiously walked forward.

Logan stood once she was there. “I suggest you put pressure on the wound,” he advised, walking past her seemingly without a care in the world. He crossed to Roman and Roman found himself swallowing a lump in his throat. Logan reached down to pull Roman to his feet. Then, he reached into Roman’s bag to pull out a small package. He tossed the package towards the bandits. “It’s disinfectant,” he explained. “You should disinfect the injury. I have no idea where his knife has been.” He grabbed both Roman’s sword and the woman’s. “Walk Roman,” he ordered and Roman didn’t even think about questioning him, instead turning to walk the way he indicated with his head. “Good luck not dying,” he said casually and then followed after Roman.

They walked in silence for a good 20 minutes before Logan directed him slightly off the path into a more hidden area.

“I think that’s far enough,” Logan said, “and it’s almost dark. I’ll make camp.”

Roman blinked as he left Roman there and started to dig through their bags for supplies. “Are you going to untie me now?” he asked.

“And why should I?” he asked, disinterested.

“Logan,” Roman warned harshly and then, suddenly, there was a knife on his cheek. Roman’s breath froze in his lungs. They stayed like that for a long moment. “I know you can’t use that on me,” Roman finally choked out.

“And yet you fear it.” He was… right about that. There was still blood on it from the man he’d recently stabbed in the guts after all. Roman shoved down the fear the best he could.

“You know you can’t resist the compulsion to complete the deal forever and my people will be looking for me,” Roman reasoned.

“I’m well aware,” he replied, “but I’m already going to be punished for the knife I had before. You can’t blame me for delaying that as long as possible. Besides _this,_ Roman,” he angled the knife and Roman held his breath, “pleases me.”

“You’re a bastard,” Roman spat, his ire already building in his chest and turning the fear to hate.

“Strong words,” Logan said, “for someone who’s not in control anymore.”


	8. Mirror Image

Logan spread out two of the blankets they’d packed before entering the mirror on the ground. Luckily, it was warm and likely wouldn’t get too cold even during the night. So, he wouldn’t have to risk making a fire and giving their position away. He did a quick protection spell around the area with what he had in the packs that should keep most dangers away. At the very least, it would keep away the many insects in the small patch between trees he’d found.

He turned to Roman who was still sulking a few feet away. “There,” Logan said. “You can sleep on the brown blanket. Make sure to get some rest; we have a lot of walking to do tomorrow.”

“Fuck off,” he spat.

“Suit yourself, Roman.”

Roman grumbled something and lumbered over to the spot. He squatted to sit and ended up falling on his back with a yelp. Logan snorted.

“Shut up,” Roman said, and the darkness of his tone was muted by the fact that he looked like a baby turtle on its back at the moment. He squirmed around like a worm until he could shove himself into a sitting position. There was silence as Logan continued to go through his pack. “Release me. Now,” Roman commanded.

There was a tug in Logan’s brain at that. The deal was rackling a little bit. While he wasn’t technically breaking it, he was dancing with its boundaries. After all, it was a question at the moment as to if Logan was truly in Roman’s custody.

He was still with him, he told himself firmly and _he_ didn’t tie him up. He was not acting against him or resisting him and had no intention of running away. The tug of magic loosened a bit. That was the thing about magic. It often had its loopholes and was usually about perception, not just reality.

“No,” Logan said simply. Satisfaction curled in his gut.

“You’re going to regret this.”

“Exactly,” Logan agreed evenly. “Why should I hasten the inevitable?”

Roman did not seem to have an argument for that, because he just flopped down onto his side the best he could on the blanket. He wiggled around a bit. “This is very uncomfortable,” he complained.

“Oh, who would have guessed?” Logan snarked. He’d finished setting up what they needed for the night and went to go search for two nice sized rocks. He found some at the edge of their small campsite and then sat himself down as far from Roman as possible while still being on a blanket. He pulled his bag to him.

He let his hand linger briefly on the necklace from Patton without taking it out of the bag as to not risk Roman seeing his sentiment towards it. Then, he pulled out the different herbs and flowers he’d collected on their trip to the mirror and searched through them. He didn’t have every ingredient he wished he did, but what he had should work.

He put away the things he didn’t need and started crushing one of the flowers between the two rocks.

“What are you doing?” Roman asked.

“Making a potion.”

“What type of potion?” he asked suspiciously.

Logan resisted rolling his eyes. “A healing potion.”

“Why are you making a healing potion?”

“Because I’d like to not be in pain for at least a few hours, Roman,” Logan said dryly.

He shut up after that, but Logan could feel his eyes on him the entire time he was crushing the ingredients together. He stuffed the crushed herbs and flowers into one of the half empty water containers. Ideally, he was supposed to stir it slowly clockwise a dozen times and then counterclockwise 3 times, but since there wasn’t really a way to stir it, he’d have to improvise by swirling the whole contain in circles and hope it worked. He counted the rotations out loud quietly and said a quick spell. Hopefully it would do. He stuck a finger in it and tasted it briefly. It tasted a little off from what it should, but it tingled softly as it absorbed into his tongue. He thought it would work okay. He screwed the cap back on and set it aside.

Then came the application. He ignored the way Roman was still watching his every move and slowly peeled his shirt off to reveal the bandages Janus had provided and that he’d hastily applied over the scrapes from his fall. Only one of them had bled through and it was only a touch. He slowly began to remove the bandages.

“When did that happen?” Roman asked.

“When a terrakraki dropped me from a tree, Roman. When do you think it happened?”

“No one else got injured from that,” he said with a frown.

“Everyone else still had a tentacle wrapped around them when they fell. It dropped me from the top of a tree when I stabbed it. I’m lucky the branches broke my fall.”

“Oh,” Roman replied. “Why didn’t you say anything to me?”

“When exactly should I have said something?” he asked calmly as the last bandage came off. “Before or after you were threatening me with a knife?”

“You shouldn’t have had the knife,” Roman insisted darkly.

“Well, it’s a good thing I did, or your problems would have been a lot worse than being tied up by bandits. Personally, I’m satisfied with the lack of digestive fluid all over my dead body.” Logan finished removing the bandages and grabbed his potion. He poured out some of it on his hand and carefully started applying it to the wounds on his chest and sides. There was a bit of sharp burning pain as the potion sunk into damaged flesh, but that just meant it was working. Once he’d covered his wounds, he screwed the cap back on the bottle.

“Are you injured in any way?” Logan thought to ask Roman.

“I have some chafing around my wrists,” he said pleasantly.

Logan took that to mean he was fine. His eyes flickered to him. “Suffer,” he said. Then, he slowly leaned back onto the blankets. He let out a sigh and relaxed. His wounds were already starting to numb. “If you do manage to get free somehow while I’m asleep, I’d caution you not to move me roughly as surely you’d be inclined to do. If my ribs were broken, the potion will soften the bones for a while and sudden movements would likely send a rib bone through my heart. I assume that, despite your anger with me, you still wish to make it to your destination. Therefore, I advise some amount of caution.”

Roman said nothing, but Logan imagined he was in agreement. He yawned. There was a bit of a sleep agent in the potion, so he quickly found himself falling asleep.

It took much longer for him to fall asleep than it did Logan. Roman found himself watching the man’s shallow breaths in the darkness. How had he not noticed injuries that severe on Logan? He had been avoiding eye contact with him since the incident for a variety of reasons, but still, he should have noticed. It made something squirm uncomfortably in his stomach. Yet, eventually, he was able to bury the guilt from that by focusing on the current strain on his arms.

He ended up rolling onto his stomach to try to sleep as that seemed to make his arms ache the least, but even when he managed to sleep, it wasn’t exactly good sleep. Every time he closed his eyes, he could see death. There had been so much death and while Roman knew it wasn’t real, the images still haunted him. What’s worse is he could put at least one name to a face. He had met Patton, no matter how briefly, and that made it sit all the more heavily on his chest. Plus, the stories Logan had told him made it easy to guess who the other two that popped up regularly were.

By the time morning came, Roman was already wide awake. He watched a bird hop around outside the little circle Logan had cast a protection spell over. It flew away when Logan began to stir behind Roman’s head.

The man let out a soft sigh and Roman could hear him sit up. “Are you awake?” he asked.

Roman let out a grunt in response.

“I’ll make us something to eat before we start walking,” Logan told him. Roman pushed himself over onto his side to watch as Logan moved around. “I think it’ll be safe to start a fire and it’ll be nice to eat something that isn’t jerky,” Logan said as he grabbed a few fallen branches from the area. He quickly was able to start a fire. Roman was often surprised about how good he was at survival things when he appeared to just be a huge nerd. Roman’s mind flashed back to a bloody knife with a shudder; there was definitely more to him than just being a nerd.

Logan poured some water into a cooking dish they’d brought and added some oatmeal to it before leaning back to wait for it to cook. Once it was done, he spooned it into two separate bowls. He sat one down and then walked over to Roman. He reached down to help lift Roman into a sitting position without asking. Roman was forced to allow it to his own embarrassment.

“Time to eat,” he stated, getting to his knees in front of him with the bowl in hand.

“And how am I supposed to eat that?”

Wordlessly, Logan spooned up a bit of oatmeal and held it out to Roman. Oh. That’s what this was. Roman narrowed his eyes at him. No way. “Absolutely no-chk.” The spoon was shoved roughly into his mouth and he choked on the oatmeal. The lumpy texture and bland taste was a lot more unpleasant when he didn’t consent to it being in his mouth. He chewed and swallowed the bite, only barely managing to get it past the ball of anger quickly building in his throat. “You-” he didn’t allow Roman to speak, shoving more food into his mouth the second it opened. Roman glared at him furiously as he swallowed that bite as well. “Die,” he hissed through clenched teeth. He had learned his lesson.

“Doubtlessly,” he replied dispassionately, spoon still in hand. “Now eat.” Roman shook his head and they sat there for a few long minutes with their eyes locked. The longer he looked into Logan’s eyes, the more and more he hated him. Anger bubbled in his chest with no outlet. He couldn’t even scream at him without a spoon being shoved into his mouth. It was mortifying.

Finally, when Roman was certain the food had gone cold, he dropped the bowl on the ground. “Eat like a dog then.”

Logan got to his feet and walked back over to eat his own food. Roman watched him, boiling with hate. He glanced down at the bowl of oatmeal. He was hungry, but he wasn’t going to give him the satisfaction. Logan finished his food rather quickly and snuffed the fire out before packing everything except for the blanket Roman was sitting on and the bowl still filled with oatmeal.

“Not hungry?” Logan inquired sweetly. Roman almost bit through his own tongue. He was being mocked. Logan reached down, grabbed the bowl, and dumped the food out onto the ground. “Do you need help getting up?” he asked as he packed the bowl.

“No,” Roman ground out, shifting around to get to his knees. He then proceeded to make an absolute fool of himself by wiggling around trying to get to his feet.

Logan dared to laugh at him. Roman was going to kill him when he got out of this.

He managed to make it to his feet and Logan packed away the blanket.

“Ready to go?” Logan asked.

A muscle ticked in Roman’s cheek. “Yes.” The sooner they got to Milinesie the better.

Roman did his best not to topple on the rough terrain they walked on throughout the day. Logan was luckily kind enough to catch him every time he stumbled so he didn’t land face first in the dirt, but even that made Roman feel angrier by the moment. Not to mention the hunger, exhaustion, and the ache in his shoulders. Despite Roman being slower than he usually was, they made good time. Not wanting to pass out, Roman ended up letting his hunger overwhelm him and ate the beef jerky Logan offered on the road as well as let him pour water down his throat no matter how much he didn’t want to. Though, to be fair, he was a lot less rough then he was in the morning. That was likely to make a point. They eventually stopped to eat something more substantial later in the afternoon and Roman ended up eating it off the ground. The self-satisfied smirk Logan sent him made thoughts of murder dance in his head.

Logan had just finished his own meal and was sipping a bit of water while waiting for Roman who was taking a bit longer to eat when there was a noise down the path. Logan’s eyes flickered up lazily at the sound. “Ah,” he said after seeing whatever was behind Roman. Then, he was moving towards Roman. He unsheathed the bandit’s knife and cut through the binding on Roman’s hands. He tossed the knife near Roman’s knees and retreated a short way back to where he’d been sitting before.

Roman struggled to get the ropes off the best he could with his arms still a bit numb. He pushed himself to his feet right as the rest of his troupe made it to them, Janus at the helm.

“What happened?” Janus asked.

“We were attacked by bandits, and he’s a bastard,” Roman spat.

In the next moment, he launched forward to where Logan was sitting, looking infuriatingly unconcerned and lifted him by the collar of his shirt until he was level with Roman, much as he had the day they’d met. The anger, the helplessness, the humiliation he’d shoved down and bore over the past day came roaring to the forefront of his mind as his fist clenched harder in the material of his shirt.

Roman hated him. He hated him so much. He wanted to get him back for that, wanted to make him pay in kind. He felt like he might burst from the hate and furry pounding in his veins. Hours’ worth of suppressed adrenaline finally let loose in his veins. He wanted to shake him and throttle him, and he wanted to make him feel like Roman had felt because he felt…

He felt.

He felt exactly like Logan must have felt before they went into the mirror.

Having his hands tied behind his back for hours at a time, having no autonomy with regard to food and water, sleeping badly because of awkward positions.

…

Injuries that he expected Roman to at best not care about and at worst to use against him.

And for Logan, there had been no time limit but Roman’s whim and no guarantee that he’d have his life at the end of every interaction.

Roman looked him in the eyes. He’d had the chance to observe the man in the last few hours while he was not Roman’s prisoner. Though before Roman may have said that he looked altogether calm in Roman’s grip, his fear was clear in the contrast. The widened pupils, the shake of his hand where it had instinctively moved to grab at Roman’s wrist, the tightness of his lips; they all told a story Roman hadn’t seen before. He expected far more than equal retribution for his actions, and he had when he’d chosen them.

He’d made it clear that he expected to be harmed not only for his actions today but for having the knife he’d stabbed the terrakraki with. It had been one of his reasons for keeping Roman restrained: delaying the inevitable. If he was to be punished harshly anyway, his reasoning was that he might as well get some revenge out of it, no matter that it would mean little in the end. They’d have ended up here no matter what Logan did.

“Fair enough,” Roman hissed and dropped him. Despite the decision he’d just made, he still felt a vindictive pleasure when the man stumbled back at his sudden release. He blinked at Roman in abject confusion. Roman turned his back on him.


	9. Only on Still Water Can One See Their Own Face

To say that Logan had been surprised that he didn’t end up having his ribs rebroken was perhaps an understatement. With the way Roman had been literally shaking with rage once he was free, Logan wouldn’t have been surprised if he’d killed Logan right then and there without having ever learned the truth about him. What had stayed his hand, Logan did not know, and he continued to wait for Roman to change his mind suddenly, but he hadn’t. He’d not laid a finger on Logan all the way to Milinesie to get supplies or all the way back to the pond. He hadn’t even been tied up or had his things taken away in punishment. Roman all but ignored what Logan had done. There was still the worry in the back of Logan’s mind that Roman may just be waiting to spring it on him, but there wasn’t anything he could do if that was the case, so he chose to ignore it.

Once the party once again found the pond, they set up a slightly more permanent camp in a meadow a brief walk away from it. Unless they got very lucky, Logan imagined that it would take weeks if not more to find the key.

The pond was large, and magical besides. It was divided into 10 different sections from what Logan had observed. The section with the waterfall seemed to be the one that most matched the location and climate of the surrounding area. The water was mostly calm despite the waterfall cascading down into it and just a bit cool like water in spring.

Then there were sections that were much the same but different in temperature: one that was almost uncomfortably warm like it had been overheated by the summer sun and the other which was on the cusp of freezing.

Yet, not all sections seemed to hold normal pond water: there were ones of odd colors from different mineral deposits and ones with more intense rapids. There were even two that were saltwater. One of these was calm like at a beach on a summer day and the other had a large dangerous whirlpool in the center that looked like it had been plucked out of the middle of the sea. They would need to come up with a strategy to search the entire area effectively for the key.

They spent three days making sure none of the sections seemed toxic or dangerous in any other way. Some of the rapids could get strong, but the only truly dangerous place seemed to be where the whirlpool was. Other than that, they wouldn’t have a problem swimming in any of it.

On the fourth day, Roman gathered everyone at the side of the pond and Logan opened the Pragilium text “According to the new instructions in the book,” Logan said, looking at the brand new page that had appeared at the beginning of the second chapter of the book, “the key should be somewhere at the bottom of this pond. It looks like this.” He showed the group around him the picture of the key in the book. “It’s golden and shiny. Unfortunately, the pond is full of mica and glowing in different places so that fact won’t make it any easier to find. There aren’t any other clues in the book, so the only recourse will be the brute force method.”

“Well then, we should start looking,” Roman said, already taking off his shirt. Logan quickly turned his eyes back to the book.

“Well, we can still make a plan,” Logan said while frowning down at the picture of the key. “We can segment the pond into different parts and narrow in the search on one area at a time. I propose we divide it up into 50 different areas and…”

Roman dove into the pond before he could finish. “Everyone stay away from the whirlpool!” he instructed when his head popped back up out of the water. He’d jumped into the calmer saltwater section. Seeing their leader have no regard for organization or planning, the rest of the party followed suit rather easily.

“Wait, but we…” Logan sighed as no one was paying attention to him anymore. Instead, he closed his book and stored it carefully back into his pack.

“I am always amazed by the high level of intelligence the commander displays,” Janus’s voice intoned. He, apparently, had not decided to follow his comrades into the water. In fact, he seemed to be staring at the water in disdain.

Logan looked over at him. “I personally think he’s a blundering idiot.”

Janus snorted. “You certainly are one for mincing words.”

“I thought I was being quite direct,” Logan replied with a frown. Janus exhaled an almost pained sounding sigh. “I notice you are not stripping out of your clothing and diving into the water.”

Janus seemed to inspect his nails. “I’d much rather stay clothed, thank you. Give people less things to stare at.” Logan gave him a questioning look. “My birthmarks,” he said with a raised eyebrow, gesturing to the one uncovered one on his face.

“Do they not all know what you are?” Logan asked. “I imagine they wouldn’t be particularly surprised by their existence.”

“They tend to follow their commander’s lead and forget what I am most of the time,” Janus replied. “There’s no reason to remind them.” Logan frowned, but Janus continued before he could. “Your injuries appear to be better.”

“Oh,” Logan said. “I had time to make myself a healing potion after we exited the mirror realm.”

“How did you do that?” Janus asked.

Logan shrugged. “I had enough supplies to do so. A general healing potion isn’t overly difficult.”

Janus looked skeptical. “A healing potion out of no supplies but random plants you acquired while walking through the woods?”

“They weren’t random to me.”

Janus considered this. “Fair enough.”

“I do appreciate you asking after my health. It is very kind of you.”

Janus looked at him strangely for a long moment. “I…” he said but couldn’t seem to finish.

“I’m surprised you still care,” Logan said. “After what happened with Roman. I’ve discerned the two of you are quite close.”

“We are fairly close.”

“Then why are you speaking to me?”

Janus shrugged. “He deserved it. Perhaps you knocked some sense into him.”

“I at no point hit him, I assure you, though the thought did cross my mind.”

“Are you for real about,” he waved his hand in the air, “that.”

“I don’t know what you mean,” Logan said. Janus squinted at him and then shook his head. He stood up and offered a hand to help Logan up which he took.

“Is there any task I can do that is productive but does not require me to get soaked?” Janus asked.

Logan nodded. “We can look together in the shallower waters from the edge,” he said. “Or wade a bit if you are willing.” Janus nodded his agreement and Logan led him to the edge of the hotter section with the multi-colored water from different mineral deposits.

Throughout the day, Logan found himself often drifting away from looking for the key and instead amused himself with studying the many different types of rocks and plant life in and around the pond; it was all quite fascinating. While he certainly did want to find the key eventually (despite doing so taking him closer to his doom), there didn’t seem to be any rush.

In fact, in the days that followed, it often seemed that most of the soldiers were doing more playing than searching. Roman often fell asleep quickly once they returned to camp after swimming all day and didn’t seem inclined to enact any type of revenge. So, Logan was content to simply continue in this way for a few weeks.

It had been almost three weeks that they had been searching at the pond, but their efforts still had yet to turn up any key. Roman was beginning to grow frustrated though he knew it was no one’s fault. Today in particular, no one seemed to want to do anything productive, but that was fair as today was incredibly hot. The search had devolved into more of a water party within an hour from when they started and, as much as Roman wanted to find the key and soon, he ended up joining them in splashing about. Even Janus who, up until that point had turned his nose up at getting into the “smelly moss water” (despite Roman’s argument that only one of the sections was covered in moss) had finally relented to the heat. He had complained about it the entire time until Roman had finally taken to dunking him under the water every time he hissed out a complaint. He’d taken to sulking between the edge of the calm saltwater section and the one full of a mix of hot and cold springs.

Though Janus had swam away from him and the others, the fact that their commander had initiated such a thing seemed to be taken as permission for the others to start a full out water battle. Everyone quickly became part of the water battle (even Janus if you counted drenching anyone who dared come within 20 feet of him).

Well, everyone except one person. Logan had spent the day continuing to either wade around in water low enough to not get much of him wet or simply standing on the edge, staring into the water intently.

After a few hours, the game had wound down and most everyone had gotten tired or hungry and had gone back to camp. In fact, when Roman opened his eyes after having been floating on his back for a few minutes, he realized that the only two people left at the pond were him and Logan.

Roman watched Logan for a few minutes. He was crouched at the side of the water, staring into it with a wrinkle between his brows. Roman watched as he bent over and reached into the shallow water to pull out a rock and squint at it. That had been basically all he’d done for the past few weeks. He looked for the key from when they began in the morning and was always in the last group leaving the pond in the evening. The only person he ever spoke to was Janus and he often forgot to eat lunch if Roman didn’t interrupt him.

“You can take a break every so often,” Roman said. Logan glanced up at him but said nothing. “You have to be hot today. Why don’t you come in the water?”

“No.”

“Why not?”

“Because I don’t want to. I’m perfectly content here.”

“Oh, come on,” Roman said, rolling his eyes. “What’s your issue? Afraid of the water?”

“I am not afraid of the water.”

Roman considered him. “Can you not swim?”

“I can swim perfectly fine.”

“Then why not?” Roman whined and swam closer to flick a bit of water at him. “It’s fun.”

Logan shot him a look full of disdain. “I don’t want to participate in your ‘fun.’”

“Come on Logan,” he taunted, flicking a bit more water at him. “Live a little.”

He rubbed the water off his face. “I am living, thank you,” he said. “I am perfectly content with my chosen activity. Leave it alone.”

“What?” Roman asked. “You’re content with staring at rocks? That’s fun for you?”

“Yes,” Logan replied, continuing to do just that.

Roman rolled his eyes. “Why don’t you try doing something actually fun. Like people who have friends do.”

There was a sudden change in his features. They seemed to darken suddenly and Roman suddenly remembered that the rock studying loner had also stabbed a man without hesitation. “I do have friends,” he said stiffly. “Ones I care for deeply.”

Bodies suddenly flashed across Roman’s vision once again. There were hundreds of bodies, but three repeating over and over as softly spoken stories about cookies and falling asleep in the garden met his ears. Logan hadn’t known Roman had been matching dead eyed faces to those stories as he spoke. Roman might still not be friendly with the man, but he wasn’t cruel enough to describe what was behind the mirror. They’d known each other for almost two months, but he didn’t really know Logan. Yet, he knows those sights would have broken him. “Right,” Roman agreed.

Yet, Logan wasn’t done. He dropped the rock he’d been studying back into the pond and stood, drawing himself to full height. Usually Logan’s full height was rather laughable compared to Roman’s, but perhaps it was the fact that Roman was below him in the pond, or the memory of being on his knees in front of him, or maybe just the sharpness of his expression. “If you find my personality disagreeable, perhaps it has little to do with my natural disposition and is more a result of my current situation,” he spat. He was angrier than Roman had ever seen him and Roman found it hard not to shrink back. “Perhaps just because I didn’t befriend my captor, that does not mean I am incapable of maintaining meaningful personal connections. Perhaps I don’t want to participate in your ‘fun’ because of you in particular, because I doubt, considering my experiences with you before, that it would be fun for me. In fact, it may be that I am a bit irritable not because of a character flaw that makes it impossible for me to have friends but because you are the one who will likely kill me before I ever see the ones I have again.” Roman blinked at him dumbly. “So,” he finished, “apologies for my cancerous temperament.”

Neither of them moved for a long moment.

“I…” Roman said. “I will let you go at the end of this.”

“Sure.” His lips were set in a thin line.

“I’m serious. I’m not going to kill you after this.”

He didn’t respond to that. Instead he turned away. He said nothing more even while Roman needled him again and again. He didn’t even return to looking at the rocks in the river. He just sat down on the banks with a blank look on his face until Roman eventually just took him back to camp.

He wasn’t usually talkative back at camp, but today he didn’t even share a greeting with Janus over dinner. He just ate his food in silence. Janus sent Roman a glare that said _What did you do?_ And Roman just looked back at his plate.

Eventually everyone went to bed and while Roman had blessedly been able to actually sleep the past week since he’d exhausted himself at the pond every day, today the nightmares courtesy of the mirror realm were back. He woke halfway through the night and tried to roll over to go back to sleep. Yet, his mind would not settle. He glanced over at Logan’s bedroll and sat up immediately.

He was gone.

How could he be gone?

Roman scrambled to his feet and out of the tent. He quickly found the guard on duty, Piper, patrolling. “Where’s Logan?” he asked. The wide-eyed look she gave him was the only answer he needed. “Great,” he whispered. “I’ll check the tents. You check the rest of the camp” She hurried off to do as he asked without question.

They met back up 15 minutes later, both with no results. “Dammit,” he hissed. “Stay here and I’ll check the surrounding forest.”

He first checked the path that went towards the pond. About halfway down the path he heard a sound and paused to listen.

He followed the sound on silent feet a bit off the path and there he was. He sat with his back against a tree trunk, faced slightly away from Roman. Roman could hear from his position about 10 meters away the rasps of his breath, cracked and muffled behind the hand over his mouth. He was crying, sobbing more like though he quieted himself as much as possible. Oh.

Roman dithered. Should he approach? He doubted his presence would be any comfort. On the contrary, he’d probably fear retribution for slipping out of the tent without Roman’s permission and beyond that would likely hate that Roman saw him in such a state (that was likely the reason he was here in the first place). Decided, Roman backed up as quietly as possible and returned to camp.

“It’s fine,” he told Piper when he got back. “Go back to your duties.” He slipped back into his tent and laid back down on his bedroll, but he didn’t think he could fall asleep if he wanted to.

It had to be at least an hour later when Logan came back. He returned with a rustle of fabric and crawled back into his own bedroll. Roman wondered if either of them slept after that.


	10. Warped Vision

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (This is the second chapter posted today fyi)

Yet another week went by at the pond and still no real progress was made on any front. Roman had been acting odd for the past week since Logan had lambasted him at the pond. Logan had assumed at first that he was angry and seething, but he wasn’t sure if that was the correct interpretation at this point.

It felt like he was always hovering over Logan’s shoulder and he attempted to speak with Logan even when they didn’t have to which was new. It was almost nice sometimes when Logan forgot himself. Roman would sometimes offer him brief stories of home. From a purely intellectual standpoint, it was interesting. Logan did not honestly know much about The North other than the basics and it was intriguing to get an insider’s perspective. He spoke of his parents and grandfather a bit. His grandfather currently held what was referred to as a “Seat at the Table of Five.” It was a governing body for the five clans that made up the northern region. He sometimes would lament his aunt’s haughty attitude or complain about his brother and his tendency for mischief. Though, he did seem more fond of his brother than his aunt, if still exasperated.

Logan found himself almost drawn in by these snippets of information like a rat may be drawn into a laid trap by a hunk of cheese. Surely it was a trap because Logan could see no reason why Roman’s attitude would change so much so abruptly. He was certain the reason wasn’t good. Perhaps he was growing suspicious and was trying to catch Logan in a lie by having more conversations or maybe it was something else. Either way, Logan didn’t like the new behavior and did his best not the encourage it as much as possible. Yet, Roman persisted.

There was also the concern of thoughts of home that kept coming to mind. In the almost calm they had found at the pond, it became harder to not contemplate things he had previously been suppressing. Between that and being suspicious about the change in Roman’s behavior, Logan had been awake most of the last few nights.

Roman finally stirred from sleep as morning light started to seep through the cracks in the tent. He turned his head slightly to look at him. Their eyes met.

“Uh… good morning?” Roman said.

“Sure,” Logan replied and turned back to look at the ceiling.

“Did…” Roman started. “Did you even sleep?”

No. Logan continued to look at the top of the tent.

After a few moments of silence, Roman moved to get up and Logan followed him out of the tent silently.

He nodded to Janus who nodded back before turning to Roman. He then took breakfast from Ivy and sat to eat by himself.

He was halfway through his breakfast when Roman stood up to draw everyone’s attention to him. “We’re having a day off,” he announced. “Rest, have fun, do whatever you like for the day. The pond will still be there tomorrow.”

That was new. Logan didn’t particularly like new. He eyed Roman as he finished his meal.

Janus finished his own breakfast and walked over to sit next to Logan. “You look fantastic,” he said.

“I do not feel ‘fantastic,’” Logan replied. “I am surprised you think so. I’d imagine I physically look as tired as I feel.”

“Well you do look like someone gave you two black eyes.”

Logan hummed.

“What’s wrong?” Janus asked.

“What isn’t?”

Janus didn’t respond, but just waited for him to continue.

“Without constantly being on the move, I’ve had time to think.”

“About what?” he asked. Logan’s eyes flickered to Roman and then back to the man in front of him. He was still the enemy and more dangerous than any of Roman’s soldiers. He was the one most likely to find Logan out. Yet, at the same time, he’d been the largest and most consistent source of kindness Logan had found since this ordeal began.

“About my life,” he divulged. “About the people I care about. I miss them and it is possible I will never see them again. It is difficult to sleep with that in mind.”

Janus was silent for a moment. “That is something I understand.” He wasn’t looking at Logan. “There isn’t a way to make it easier in my experience.”

“You have experience with such things?” Logan asked.

“I’m a multrum,” Janus said. “I’m an important resource and have no choice about where I go. I have often been reassigned quite suddenly with no input on where or who I end up with. I’ve lost track of many of the people I’ve considered friends over the years. I try not to make friends anymore, but,” he glanced over to where Roman was sitting, “that’s often easier said than done.”

“Does it get any easier?”

Janus shrugged. “It gets easier to pretend that it doesn’t affect you.”

Logan nodded and looked at the ground.

Janus nudged him gently with his knee. “You know, I hated Roman myself when I was first assigned to him.”

“What made you change your mind,” Logan asked. “He doesn’t exactly have many redeeming qualities.”

Janus chuckled a bit at that. “Honestly? It’s mostly that he’s too stupid to not treat me like a person. It makes him easier to deal with.”

“You are a person.”

Janus froze and blinked at him like he’d just told him the sky didn’t exist. “You’re… not lying.”

“Of course not,” Logan said getting to his feet.

“Of course not,” Janus repeated.

“I’m going to the pond,” he announced.

“Why are you going to the pond?” Roman asked, overhearing him. “It’s a day off.”

Logan gritted his teeth. A day off was exactly what he didn’t need. “Not for me.”

“But you’re tired.”

“Yes, I’m tired, but that has nothing to do with it.”

“You can relax for one day,” he said, crossing his arms like Logan was the incompetent man child.

“He can’t actually,” Janus spoke up. “He can relax for maybe an hour without the intention of sleeping or eating before consequence. If he’s capable of working towards the objective of this trip, he’s compelled to do so by the deal.”

Right, Logan thought. That actually wasn’t true considering that the prince was already in Roman’s custody. All the deal really said was that he couldn’t run away from him, but they didn’t know that. He had to be careful not to forget that and make them suspicious.

“The symptoms of resisting a compulsion passively through things like avoidance involve a headache that slowly grows in intensity, nausea, and difficulty breathing. Eventually it will progress to an inability to speak and then a catatonic state if one continues to resist,” Logan rattled off.

“O-oh,” Roman replied. Again, he clearly didn’t understand the deal he had made and that irritated Logan even though it was likely to Logan’s advantage.

He turned away from Roman. “I’m going to the pond,” he said again and left.

Roman groaned as Logan walked off, his discontent clear in his posture as he strode away. He plopped down next to Janus. “Well, that didn’t work,” he groused.

Janus tilted his head at Roman. “The day off was meant for him, wasn’t it?” he asked.

“He hasn’t been sleeping well,” Roman replied. “I was hoping he’d maybe go back to bed.”

“Well, it was considerate of you even if you’re an idiot.”

Roman rolled his eyes. “Thanks, but I’m pretty sure he doesn’t share the same sentiment.”

Janus hummed. “You seem to have reevaluated your position on him since the mirror realm.”

“I’ve learned some things,” Roman said. “And he made some good points after the bandits.”

“Oh, so Roman has learned the skill of empathy?” Janus asked, eyes wide as he placed a hand over his heart. “And all it took was a bit of degradation. I should have tried that myself years ago.”

Roman pressed his lips together. “It wasn’t just that. I think I misjudged the type of person he was. He’s not motivated by self-preservation like I thought.” He looked off in the direction Logan had disappeared and sighed. “He’s miserable.”

“Well, that’s what happens when you are taken captive by an enemy and treated like shit for weeks.”

“Every time I try to extend an olive branch, he just gets more angry or miserable. I don’t know how to do better.”

Janus paused for a few moments. “You truly want to make him more comfortable?” he asked.

“Yes,” Roman replied. “I do.” Janus bit his lip, a sign that he was contemplating something. Roman narrowed his eyes at him. “Do you know something?”

“I…” Janus started. “You honestly promise you won’t use it against him? Even if you get angry?”

“Of course, I won’t,” Roman said with a frown.

“You weren’t particularly kind to him at the beginning,” Janus reminded, “and it isn’t a line I know you would never cross, but he doesn’t deserve…” he trailed off.

“I won’t use it against him,” Roman swore. Janus considered him, clearly reading the truth to his words, but still hesitating.

“I caught him in one lie, well two, but the first was petty, since he’s been with us,” Janus admitted, “and I didn’t tell you because I understood why he’d lie.”

“Okay,” Roman said, “and what was the lie.”

“It was about his glasses,” Janus replied. “He said they’re reading glasses, but they aren’t. He’s near sighted. He needs them all of the time.”

“Why would he lie about something like that?” Roman asked.

“The same reason he didn’t tell you about his injuries from falling from the tree,” Janus said. “He feared you’d use that knowledge against him. He expected you to barter for more than he’s already forced to give you because of the deal. However, knowing that you need him to be able to read, he expected you wouldn’t take them from him if you thought he needed them for that task. It likely seemed like a better deal to be able to see sometimes than to have them taken away completely.

“Oh,” Roman replied.

“Letting him wear the glasses more often would probably make him at least somewhat more content.”

“Okay,” Roman said. “Yeah, I can do that.”

“Do me one favor?” Janus asked.

“What?”

“Don’t tell him I told you about the lie.”

Right, Roman thought, because it would be considered a betrayal to Logan for Janus to tell him anything. Janus was the closest thing to a friend Logan had right now, but Roman was 100% the enemy.

“I won’t tell him,” Roman agreed. “I’ll figure out some other excuse to allow him to use the glasses full time.”

Janus nodded.

“I should probably leave him alone for today though,” Roman said.

“Wow,” Janus said. “Look at that. He’s using his brain.” Yet, his tone was light, trying to nudge Roman away from the serious conversation a bit.

Roman stuck his tongue out at him, but then frowned. “Would you mind taking lunch to him for me? He sometimes forgets to eat.”


	11. Deflections

“Would it hurt your eyes to wear those glasses all of the time?” Roman blurted out of seemingly nowhere the next morning.

Logan was sitting by the side of the multi-colored section having just finished re-reading a section of the Pragilium text looking for more clues about the location of the key. He paused, hallway through the process of taking his glasses off to put them away again. “Er, no.”

“Then you should just keep them on,” Roman said. “It makes more sense for you not to waste time taking them off and putting them back on again every time you need to read or look at something. It just makes sense.”

Well, Logan wasn’t going to argue with that. “You’re right,” he agreed. “It does make sense. I’ll be sure to do that.”

Roman just nodded and turned back to the pond. Logan readjusted the glasses on his face and returned his case to his bag along with his book.

When he turned back, Roman was looking out at his soldiers who were already at work searching the pond. “We’re getting nowhere,” he said.

Logan considered him for a long moment. It would probably do no good, but Logan might as well try. “Part of the problem,” he said cautiously, “is that there isn’t enough organization or communication in the search. Many areas of the pond have likely been searched multiple times, especially the more pleasant sections, and other parts may have never been searched at all.”

Roman turned to him and Logan was surprised by the lack of scorn on his face. “You’re probably right,” he agreed to Logan’s shock. “Perhaps we should change our method. Do you have any ideas?”

Logan chose not to mention that he’d already tried to explain this exact thing on the first day at the pond. Instead, he chose to jump on the chance to get something done in an organized fashion. “Yes, actually,” he replied. “We should segment the pond into different parts. For the size of this group, I’d suggest dividing each section into 5 pieces. Then we can search in one area at a time more effectively. Normally, I’d worry about the key drifting since it’s in water, but we don’t have to worry about it as its magic is supposed to make it remain in place.”

“That’s a good idea,” Roman complimented and Logan may have appreciated that more if they hadn’t just spent a month looking already because Roman hadn’t listened to him in the first place. Yet, Logan figured he’d take what he could get.

Logan traced the picture of the pond in the book and he and Roman worked for about an hour planning out the best way to divide the pond up. Then, Roman called his soldiers back in to explain the new plan. They took the change easily, likely understanding the merit after so long looking with no result. Everyone lined up in what had been dubbed as the “normal pond” section and Logan himself worked near them since the first segment they were searching butted up against the pond’s edge near the waterfall.

Having a logical plan put into place along with the fact that he could actually see everything all of the time, put Logan in a better mood than he’d been in for a while now. He didn’t even feel irritated when a few of them became distracted a little early and started another water fight amongst themselves. After all, they were actually making some sort of progress now (even if they had not yet found the key). Besides, the group was kind enough to take it away from the area they were searching, so Logan didn’t run any risk of getting caught in the middle of the rough play. He still decided to stop wading and get out of the water to look near the waterfall once a few more started splashing about, just in case.

Eventually, the whole searching part of the day fell through once again and the entire group was in another section, splashing and shoving each other’s heads under the water. Logan ignored them in favor of taking some samples of the rocks near the waterfall and studying them. Many of the rocks here had various magical properties which wasn’t much a surprise considering their location. He stored a few of those for later.

He was so engrossed that he didn’t even notice as most of the party started to drift away back to camp. Eventually, he realized it was just him and Roman once again, and he tensed immediately.

Roman swam a bit closer when he saw Logan notice him. “Hey,” he said. Logan resisted chewing on the inside of his cheek, a bad habit he’d been trying to break since childhood. The last time this situation had happened, Logan had snapped at Roman. Though he didn’t regret anything he’d said as it was all true, he was honestly surprised he hadn’t faced any repercussions for daring to talk back to him.

“Salutations,” he replied evenly.

“I know last time I asked it didn’t go very well, and I know that probably had to do with how I phrased a few things, but I’d like to suggest again that you come and cool off in the water a bit.”

Logan glared at him suspiciously. “Why do you want me to?”

“You just seem sad up there all alone staring at rocks. I don’t know. You could even just stand in the shallow part like earlier.”

Logan _liked_ staring at rocks. “I still don’t understand.”

“Come on, we can play around a bit. Get rid of some tension, maybe. Play a game or two.”

“Why would I want to play a game that I will surely loose? You are physically stronger and more agile than I am as you have proven many times.”

“There doesn’t have to be a winner or a looser. It can just be fun.” And Logan couldn’t say that he hadn’t spent a bit of time watching their games and silently strategizing how to win despite his disadvantages over the past couple of weeks. Seeing Roman’s shocked face would be kind of funny…

“If,” he began, “I capitulate, you swear the retaliation will only be in fun and not extend past the ‘game’ as you call it.”

“You have a rather low opinion of me.”

Logan pursed his lips and waited.

“No, I won’t hurt you for splashing water on me.” Roman rolled his eyes.

Logan nodded and stuck out his hand. “Deal?”

“You’re impossible,” Roman groaned as Logan kept his hand extended expectantly. Yet, he still swam over to the edge to shake his hand. “Deal.”

Logan nodded and then took a huge step back away from the edge towards the waterfall. Roman was confused about what he was doing until he shoved at a tree branch nearby and suddenly a stream of water was spraying Roman’s face. Roman sputtered and shoved himself away from the side of the pond and out of the stream.

“You smart ass bastard,” Roman spat. He’d somehow managed to perfectly position the branch in the waterfall so it spurted water right at him. Roman narrowed his eyes at the man standing on the shore a few feet away. He dug his arm through the water to shoot a wave at him, but he stepped back, so most of it missed him.

Looking almost bored, Logan reached his arm this time into the waterfall to spray water at him again in retaliation for the attempt.

“Okay,” Roman said, wiping water out of his face. “You’re losing waterfall privileges.” He lunged toward the ledge Logan was on and pulled himself onto it. Logan tried to scramble away, but there wasn’t anywhere to go since Roman had made sure to block his path away from the waterfall. Logan’s next strategy was to hide behind the waterfall, but Roman just reached both of his arms through it to grab him around the waist. He pulled him through the cascading water and laughed a bit at the fact that he was now completely soaked, but then paused. “Glasses?” Roman asked.

Logan’s hand went to his face to take them off and Roman extended a hand. He got a suspicious blink, but the glasses were placed in Roman’s palm. Roman placed them on a little overhang a bit away from the waterfall.

Then he turned back to Logan. “Into the water with you!” If he had been a friend, Roman would have just tossed him into the water, but he thought Logan might not appreciate him trying that. Instead, he tugged on his arms and after a moment, he moved to follow Roman into the pond.

They paused, looking at each other for a few seconds, and then Logan slammed him with a wave of water.

Roman sputtered and swam back a couple of feet. “Getting out some repressed anger?” he asked.

“I wonder where I would’ve gotten it.”

“Okay,” he admitted while flicking a bit of water at him. “Maybe I deserved that one.”

“You did,” Logan replied, splashing him again.

Roman splashed him back and he swam away a little bit before turning to attack again.

They carried on like that for a little while before Logan seemed to slow. “Getting tired?” Roman asked.

“I’m,” he paused to take a breath. “Not the strongest swimmer.”

“Alright, let’s stop then,” Roman suggested. He swam towards him a bit. “Need help back to shore?” Logan whacked at his chest when he came closer in response. Roman took that as a no despite the way he was still huffing for breath a bit. He was still careful to swim beside him, just in case. Yet, Logan made it to the shore easily enough and pulled himself back up onto the ledge by the waterfall.

Roman pulled himself up as well and grabbed the glasses from the ledge before offering them to him.

“Thanks,” he said before turning to his bag to grab a dry cloth for cleaning the water off them.

“Do you… have rocks in your bag?” Roman asked as Logan returned the glasses to his face.

“Oh,” he said. “Yes.”

“Why?”

“They’re just samples I’ve been taking. There are many interesting rocks in and around this pond, many with magical properties.”

“You’ve been taking rock samples?”

“When everyone else seems to be taking breaks by swimming around, I often take breaks looking at the different rocks,” he explained. Oh, Roman thought. He thought he’d just been constantly looking for the key, but apparently, he was capable of taking a break or two.

“What all did you find?” Roman asked. His eyes lit up just a bit at the question as he turned to his rock samples.

“This one is a basalt,” he said. “It’s a very fine-grained rock and very old. It’s likely been sitting in this pond for a long time and as such, it has over the years acquired some of the magical properties of the water. Virgil uses rocks like this in the castle garden to help things grow that normally wouldn’t, though this one seems more potent than those.”

“How can you tell?”

“Oh, I did a quick test with a blackberry seed I found. I set it on the rock for only an hour before it started to sprout,” he said. The corners of his mouth turned up in remembrance and his eyes shown behind his glasses as he looked at the rock in his hand almost affectionately. He stored it back in his pack and took out another one. “And then here’s some diabase. This would be good for making potions that require heat or even just cooking. If you use it right and put it at the bottom of your pot, it will prevent you from being burned by the liquid even if you put your hands inside the water yet your food or potion will still heat through.”

“Wow, that sounds cool,” Roman said, and Logan seemed to perk up at his interest.

“It is,” he agreed. “They’re very useful!” He continued to chatter about his bag of rocks. It was the most Logan had ever spoken to him in one sitting. He was… very happy about his rocks. It was actually kind of cute. He was actually kind of cute. Huh.

“What about that rock?” he asked pointing at one. Most of the rocks were now spread out between them, but he hadn’t talked about the thin black one Roman was pointing to.

“Oh, that’s just slate,” Logan said. “It doesn’t actually have any special magical properties despite being in the pond.”

“Then why did you take some of it?” Roman asked with a raised eyebrow.

A bit of a blush suddenly stained his cheeks. “I just like slate.”

“Why?” he asked.

He looked down and mumbled something.

“What?” Roman laughed.

“Because it’s what they make chalkboards out of,” he said just loud enough to hear.

“Oh my god,” Roman said.

“Don’t start.”

“You are actually a complete and total nerd, aren’t you?”

Logan glared at him. “I just like chalkboards and when I was a kid my pa told me that slate made chalkboards and let me draw on some when I found it. So, I have a bit of a sentimental attachment. Shut up.”

Roman chuckled. “That’s actually really endearing,” he said.

Logan laughed, the blush back on his cheeks and looked away to try to hide his face. Roman smiled at him feeling a slight tug of affection in his chest. On impulse, he reached out a hand to touch his cheek. Logan looked back up at him in surprise, tilting his face towards him. Without even a moment to think through his actions, Roman leaned forward to kiss him.

He went still, and Roman drew back in the next moment.

His expression was not one anyone wanted to see on the person they’d just kissed. The laughter and soft happiness that had been on his face seconds before was gone as though it had never existed. There was more fear in his eyes than the day they’d met.

“I,” he said with none of his normal smugness or gall. “If I have a choice in this, I would prefer to not.”

Roman recoiled. “It wasn’t like that,” he said.

“Was it not?” he asked blankly.

“No,” Roman protested. “I’m sorry I shouldn’t have… sorry.”

Logan just nodded once sharply. “May I go back to camp now?” he asked.

“I… yes. Let’s go back to camp.


	12. A Key in Turbulent Waters

Patton and Virgil often teased Logan by claiming he wouldn’t be able to identify an awkward social situation ‘if people’s noses lit up blue to indicate they felt awkward.’ Much of the time, Logan would agree with them with no hesitation, but perhaps he had grown as a person on this adventure, because he currently was incredibly aware that the situation he was in was ‘awkward.’

He and Roman had never exactly been bosom friends, but the sudden lack of any and all conversation between them was glaringly obvious. If the looks Janus kept sending the two of them was anything to go by, outsiders could recognize the shift as well.

Logan was careful to not be alone with Roman whenever possible (a difficult feat since they shared a tent, but Logan was inventive and good at feigning sleep) and made absolutely sure to go back to camp before most of the group left the pond every evening.

Logan felt… stupid. It was not a feeling he was used to, and he was unsure where the lack of judgement had come from. Roman had been acting weirdly kind to Logan over the past few weeks and despite his suspicion over the change, he’d still let his guard down at the pond. And that had happened.

It was not the first kiss Logan had received, but that did not make it any less confusing. Roman hated him. Almost every interaction they’d had before that day had been filled with tension and dislike. So, why would he kiss Logan? He felt like Virgil with the way his mind spun to try to come up with an explanation. None of the options Logan could think of were things he relished.

It could be as simple as Logan being the only viable option after months on the road. He likely felt too responsible for those under him to contemplate any type of sexual relationship with any of them, and Logan doubted Janus would be enthused by an offer. Perhaps a lack of affection was the point. ‘Hate fucking’ was a concept as he’d been led to believe though Logan could not understand such a desire himself.

Yet, there was also the thought that it was a calculated maneuver meant to make him feel like this. Perhaps it was meant to embarrass him and illicit the pit of anxiety that had continued to grow in Logan’s stomach over the past few days. Maybe it was a move in the same vein as when he picked Logan up by the front of his shirt to show off the fact that he could easily crush Logan: a fear tactic.

Or it could be something worse. Logan didn’t know and that made every interaction with Roman all the more painful.

These thoughts in mind, he steeled himself once again as he heard Roman waking. He smoothed out his face and responded to Roman’s hesitant “good morning” with a sharp nod and an unconcerned glance.

As always, the group made it to the pond as the sun was just rising. Logan pulled out his sketch of the pond. “This is the next section we need to look in,” he informed Janus. Roman happened to be standing next to Janus so he could overhear the instructions, but Logan resolutely did not speak to him.

“We’ll have to be careful,” Roman said despite the fact that Logan was not speaking to him. “That’s around where the whirlpool is. The waters are pretty rough in that section because of it.”

Logan paused, turning to him quite suddenly. “Repeat that,” he demanded.

Roman blinked at him in surprise, likely because it was the first time Logan had spoken to him in days.

“Uh, we need to be careful because of the whirlpool today,” Roman said. “The waters around it are rough and I don’t want anyone to get hurt.”

“I know where the key is,” Logan said.

Janus turned his attention to Logan while Roman continued to stare. “Where?” Roman asked.

“The voice in the mirror,” Logan said. “It said, ‘You will find yourself in turbulent waters, travelers. Yet, you must swim through the danger to find what you seek.’ I was running under the assumption that it was meant figuratively, but it was literal. It’s a clue about how to find the key.”

“I don’t get it.”

“Where is the location in the pond, we have most avoided out of self-preservation?” Logan asked. “What would be a good deterrent for random travelers who stumbled upon this place.”

“The whirlpool,” Janus filled in. “That makes sense.”

“The key is almost certainly at the bottom of the whirlpool,” Logan said.

“Alright,” Roman replied. “Sure, but how are we going to get it then?”

They all paused.

Logan thought about it for a moment and didn’t really see another avenue. He sighed. “Well I guess I’ll be going in.”

“W-what?” Roman asked. “Why would you do that?”

“I said I would do anything in my power to give you possession of the prince,” Logan explained carefully. “This is in my power.” Of course, the compulsion from the deal wouldn’t force him as he was implying, but he was still going to have to do it to keep up pretenses.

“He doesn’t have a choice,” Janus filled in softly.

“As I have said, resisting the compulsion leads to many negative side effects. I would much rather go into that water with a clear head rather than being driven to dive into the water by pain.”

“That…” Roman said. “That feels wrong.”

“Imagine how I feel,” he said while already taking off his glasses. He said it just to watch flinch. In truth, he almost felt excited in a slightly destructive way. He may not want to die here but drowning in a magical pond while attempting to find a legendary key he’d been studying his entire life would not be the worst way to go. In fact, it might be a better way to die than what awaited him otherwise. If he did not act compelled to dive into the pond, they might get suspicious and figure out he’s been lying. Either way, this might kill him. He might as well try to get to the key.

With that on his mind, he took a step towards the edge of the water. A hand reached out suddenly to grab his arm. “You don’t have to do this,” Roman said.

Logan looked at him over his shoulder with a raised eyebrow. He actually looked concerned for Logan. Logan thought for a moment about what he wanted his last words to Roman to be if he died. _Suffer,_ he thought. “Don’t I?” he asked, meeting his eyes head on. Then, he ripped himself away before Roman could move to stop him and dove into the pond.

~

Roman felt bad. This felt… bad. He found himself pacing back and forth at the edge of the water after Logan dived in and didn’t immediately resurface. He glanced over at Janus who looked uncharacteristically uncomfortable with the situation as well. His shoulders were tensed, and his face was pinched.

There was nothing to do but watch the water and wait.

Roman had known from the beginning that Logan would be compelled to do things in order to complete the deal, but he hadn’t really _known_ known. Janus had been assigned to him for this specific purpose, but he’d never made one of these deals before. The passive power Janus had to detect lies was more than enough most of the time and at this point, Roman liked his presence enough that it wasn’t even necessary for Roman to want to keep him around. He hadn’t understood what exactly he was getting into with the deal if he was being honest. Janus had explained the basics, but Roman didn’t quite get it until that moment. Even after Logan had explained what could happen if he went against the compulsions, it hadn’t quite sunk in. Not until now. Not until Logan had matter-of-factly stated that he would be going into the water even though Roman knew he was a weak swimmer. Not until Janus had gotten that wildly out of character sad look on his face and explained that Logan would not have a choice but to do so.

No wonder Logan was so sad and angry all of the time. Why wouldn’t he hide in the woods alone and muffle his sobs into his hands. Of course, when Roman had kissed him, he’d started to shake and proceeded to ignore him for weeks. Why would he think he’d have a choice in that when he didn’t have a choice in anything else? He couldn’t even stop himself from diving into dangerous swirling water that could easily kill him just because the _thought_ that the key might be there had crossed his mind briefly.

Roman’s feet took him back and forth along the edge of for a few moments. His soldiers behind him shifted nervously but if that was out of worry for Logan or because of Roman’s reaction to what was happening, Roman couldn’t tell.

Roman stopped and took a determined step towards the pond before he even knew his own intentions. Janus grabbed his arm in an iron grip. “No, Roman,” he said firmly.

“This,” Roman replied. “This isn’t right. This isn’t fair. What if he dies? He’s not even a good swimmer!”

“Well certainly the solution is for you to die as well in that case.”

“Janus…”

“Why do you have to be such a soft-hearted dumbass idiot?” he scoffed under his breath.

Roman just shot him a look with watery eyes.

“If he dies, he dies,” Janus said firmly. “There isn’t anything you can do about it now.”

‘It’s your bed, so lie in it,’ hung in the air around them. It was Roman’s choice to accept the deal without thinking about the possible consequences that had caused this.

He just hoped it didn’t end up killing someone.

~

Logan had braced himself when he dove into the pond near the whirlpool but was surprised when all he was met with was calm. He opened his eyes and found the water swirling dangerously around him and yet, Logan remained still, as secure as he would have been if he’d ducked his head under bath water. Right. Magic pond.

Apparently, this test was not one of strength as he’d assumed. He looked around and saw a path lined in softly glowing rocks. Not stupid enough to dawdle (the water was calm, but he was still underwater), he swam forward to follow the lit-up route. The water continued to rush violently around him but didn’t impede his progress in the slightest.

Yet, despite the lack of strain put on him by swimming, by the time he’d followed the path to its end, he was quickly running out of breath. The last glowing stone was in the shape of a key. He grabbed it and it easily separated from the mud.

He gripped the key firmly and turned to shove himself off the bottom of the pond with his feet.

His head breached the water, and he gasped in oxygen while treading water. He distantly heard a splash that was not from his own flailing limbs. About 30 seconds later, he was grabbed around the waist. He didn’t resist Roman as he steadied him and then started to tow him towards the shore.

They were not near the location Logan had entered the water, Logan noticed once he’d wiped the water out of his eyes. They were at least 50 meters away and in a location, they had searched thoroughly two days before. Apparently, the only avenue to the key was through the whirlpool.

Eventually, he felt his feet brush the bottom of the pond, and Roman paused so they both had a moment to breathe. “Are you okay?” Roman asked.

Logan nodded. “The task was not as tasking as it appeared.”

“Logan you’re gasping for breath.”

“I,” he coughed, “am not a practiced swimmer as I have previously demonstrated.”

Roman frowned at him and bent forward to pick him up, an easy task for him on land let alone in the water. Logan didn’t bother to resist being carted around, and let Roman handle getting them back to shore. “You didn’t have to do that,” Roman said softly. “We could have come up with a better solution if you’d waited a bit.”

“Someone would have had to go in,” he said. It might as well have been a dead man.

“You shouldn’t have had to do that.”

Roman seemed to honestly feel guilty that Logan had risked his life. Logan had left him under the impression that the deal he had made forced Logan into the situation when in actuality Logan chose it. As far as he knew, it would have been his fault if Logan died. It may have truly impacted him negatively if Logan had not resurfaced. That. That was.

Good.

It was good, Logan reminded himself stubbornly.

It was good that he felt bad about Logan’s theoretical death now because when the inevitable came, Logan was sure he wouldn’t.


	13. Arc 3: Turning Tides | Chapter 13: Key Escrow

Roman’s hovering over Logan was edging on suffocating for the rest of the evening. He attempted to carry Logan all the way back to camp, but Logan vehemently resisted that, smacking him in the face until he was let down.

Yet, that was not the end of it. When they made it back to camp, Logan was all but physically forced to sit down despite having already gotten his breath back. Janus had been kind enough to bring him his bag back and knelt next to where he was sitting to hand him his glasses.

“Thanks,” Logan said, putting them on. He reached for his bag, but Roman snatched it away.

“No working,” Roman said when Logan glared at him.

“Roman,” Logan hissed.

“You can look at your book in the morning, but you’re resting for tonight. No arguments.”

“Yes arguments,” Logan replied. “Those are my things, give them back.”

Roman thought about it for a long moment and then started to dig through his pack making Logan twitch and pulled out the Pragilium text. He handed him the pack sans book. “You can have your rocks, but the book is off limits until the morning.”

Logan turned to Janus.

“Don’t look at me,” he said. “I agree. A night off won’t harm you.” He paused. “At least, it can’t if you are unable to access any resources that would help you push forward to our goal.”

“You can’t be compelled to do anything if you don’t have access to the book,” Roman said.

“Exactly,” Janus agreed.

“Traitor,” Logan grumbled, but then looked between Roman and Janus again. “Or perhaps loyalist is the more accurate term.”

“I’m going to go get you food and hide this,” Roman informed him cheerfully.

“Hide it first!” Logan said to his back. “I don’t want you getting food all over it!” Of course, it was a magical book so it likely wouldn’t matter, but that wasn’t the point.

“Sure, sure,” he heard Roman mumble as he wandered off into camp.

“Profligate,” Logan spat at his back. He saw Janus roll his eyes.

Once Roman was gone, Janus turned to look at him. “Are you okay?” he asked.

“For the dozenth time, I am perfectly well if slightly fatigued. The pond is magical, and the task was simply to be brave enough to jump into a dangerous situation. However, in actuality the current did not impact me in any way.”

“It could have.”

“However, it did not,” Logan reiterated, “and now it is over, and we have the key.”

There was a long moment of silence.

“I’m sorry,” Janus said.

“I don’t blame you,” Logan replied. “While you are the instrument of the compulsion, you did not force it upon me. I made that choice fully knowing what the consequences would be. It was my doing. I may give much of the blame to Roman since he boxed me into a corner, but I do not believe it is in any way your fault.”

He groaned. “Why do you always have to be so fucking honest? Really it is quite disgusting. Couldn’t you just be a horrible rotten bastard that lies easier than he breaths.”

Logan tilted his head and smiled at him. “You are a strange person.”

“And you are the epitome of normalcy.”

Logan narrowed his eyes at him. “I’ve figured you out,” Logan informed him proudly.

He arched an eyebrow. “Oh, have you?” he asked.

“You routinely say unmitigated falsehoods for the express purpose of communicating the opposite sentiment.”

Janus stared at him for a long time. “I am always so impressed by your deductive reasoning skills.”

“Thank you.”

Janus made a strange hissing noise and pinched the bridge of his nose. “Why?”

Before Logan could question him on what he meant, Roman came back over without the book, but with a plate of food for Logan.

“I am unsure why you are acting so concerned,” Logan said, taking his food as Roman resumed his hovering. “I am facing no ill effects from the swim.”

Roman simply frowned at him and sat down next to him.

“Aren’t you going to get your own food?” Logan asked.

“I’ll eat later,” was the answer.

Logan suppressed a groan. He really hoped that Roman would settle down soon and leave him in peace. However, that hope was not to be realized. Roman was his shadow for the rest of the evening, forcing him to rest. Eventually, they both went to bed early.

Roman startled awake to the sound of a loud pop. He recognized the sound immediately; it was made by a small pouch of blessed herbs that when yanked apart would cause a small explosion. It was the emergency alarm everyone carried when they were on guard duty in case they needed to alert the camp to danger. Roman sat bolt upright, and it was just in time too, because at that very moment, a man dressed in black slipped into the tent.

He cursed as Roman lurched to his feet. Roman lunged at the intruder, dodging a knife going for his side and grabbing his wrist before pushing forward with his greater weight. They fell out of the tent and rolled a few feet. Roman did manage to beat the man out when it came to physical strength, but only barely. Plus, the guy had pointy things. He slammed his fist into Roman’s face, and Roman felt barbs sink into the flesh of his cheek. He dragged them down Roman’s face. Roman hissed and jerked back, giving the man a chance to squirm out of Roman’s grip and roll to the side. He would have managed to get to his feet too if River and Theo didn’t tackle him.

He still struggled valiantly despite being outnumbered, jerking forward to bite at the hands holding him.

“Watch the knife!” Roman yelped, jumping forward into the fray himself as the man reached for the knife on his ankle. He was barely in time to bat the knife away and got a knee to the face for his efforts. Harlow was there in the next second, to help try to tackle the man. By the time they managed to completely restrain him, the entire camp was awake and out of their tents, with a few worrying exceptions, namely, the guards that had been on duty.

Finally, Roman drew away. The man was tightly held down between four different soldiers, yet he was still struggling and squirming against them, hissing all the way. Roman had to give whoever this person was props; he was a fighter.

“Okay,” Roman panted, drawing back to look at him. “Who the hell are you?”

“Get fucked,” the man spat, jerking against the hold on him towards Roman.

Roman narrowed his eyes. “Now listen here,” he said darkly, but then he didn’t have a chance to finish what he was going to say as Logan was suddenly there, stepping between Roman and the man being held on his knees.

“Wait!” he said. “Don’t hurt him.”

Roman blinked at him in surprise.

“He’s here for me,” Logan explained and then tilted his head to ground out through his teeth, “even though he almost certainly was aware of the deal I’ve made and how uselessly sentimental this would be.”

The man full on hissed at him like some kind of feral animals, eyes narrowed to slits. The hood he’d been wearing earlier had fallen down in the scuffle and Roman finally was able to get a good look at him now. Which is when Roman realized, he knew him. Well, he didn’t actually know him. They had never met, but he very much recognized his face. That face was etched into the back of Roman’s eyelids and he saw it every time he closed his eyes for too long. Yet, the face in Roman’s head was a lot more expressionless than the one currently in front of him. Because that face had been dead.

Virgil, Roman could surmise as he’d already met Patton, and had guessed the older man in the mirror images was Logan’s father. This was Virgil, the gardener that Logan stored magical gardening rocks in his bag in memory of. He was the person in Logan’s stories who would always find little nooks in his garden to nap in and would climb on top of Logan demanding attention.

He studied the man who looked like he could kill (and probably could considering that it had taken 5 full grown adults to take him down).

…

Roman thought Logan may have left a few things out.

Yet, that didn’t matter because Roman could see the way Logan’s breath came a bit too fast, and his lips turned down in worry. “I’ll make another deal with you to spare his life.”

Roman blinked. “Another deal?” he asked. After yesterday, Roman had sworn off making those types of deals altogether, let alone making another one with Logan. How could Logan be willing to offer another deal after having only just been compelled to risk drowning himself only hours before?

But then again, of course he would. He clearly had known exactly what he was doing when he made the first deal but chose to do so anyway. He’d made the choice to protect his group at the carriage even though he was risking harm to himself.

He’d protected Patton, one of the dead faces in his nightmare, and now Roman was staring down another one of those faces.

Logan nodded sharply before smoothing out his face into the careful blankness that had always made Roman’s hackles rise in the past, but only now was he realizing that Logan wasn’t being emotionless but hiding his emotions behind that blank expression. “If you agree that no harm will come to him, you can have whatever you want from me. I will do whatever you wish… you have expressed interest in a sexual relationship in the past. I am willing to offer that. Just don’t,” the calm cracked just the slightest amount, “hurt him.”

Roman recoiled at the offer, feeling ill at the thought. “Janus,” he said calmly, turning to him. “Will you please make sure,” Virgil, “our newest guest is properly restrained, but unharmed. I need to speak to Logan privately for a moment. “Everly, make sure everyone is accounted for and unharmed.” Janus and Everly nodded, and Roman grabbed Logan’s arm to drag him back into the tent.

“What the hell kind of offer is that?” Roman asked, rounding on him the second they were out of view. He kept his voice down still as the others were still rather close outside the tent.

There was no emotion on his face. “It is something you want, and I am willing to trade.”

“I don’t want _that,_ ” Roman spat. “I’m not going to rape you.”

“I would be consenting,” Logan said blankly. “That’s the deal.”

“That’s not consent!” And oh, Logan knew. He clearly knew. Roman could tell by the tension in his shoulder and the way he kept his gaze straight ahead.

“I am willing to trade you sex for Virgil’s life.”

“And I am absolutely not making that trade.”

Logan swallowed. “Then what do you want?”

“Nothing! We’re not making a deal about this.”

“Roman, please,” he said softly, shaking a bit now. “I can’t… I can’t handle him dying.” Roman knew. He very much knew.

“Wait, no, that’s not what I’m saying. I’m not going to hurt him.”

“You’re not?”

“No. It… he clearly is here because he cares for you, and I can’t fault him for that. I’m not going to hurt someone for trying to protect their friend.

“Really?”

“I swear. I won’t hurt him,” Roman said and after a moment’s thought, “or order him to be hurt.”

Logan watched him for any sign of deception. “Thanks.”

“You don’t need to thank me. I know your opinion of me isn’t the best, but I don’t make a habit of going around and killing everyone opposed to me.”

“But you…” Logan said and then paused to think. “You were lying at the carriage.”

“A bit,” Roman admitted. “I wouldn’t have killed anyone there, just taken them all captive. I could just tell you were all hiding something, so I was trying to get someone to crack under the pressure.”

“Well, you were right,” Logan said, “and it worked.”

“I’m sorry.”

Logan seemed to struggle with that for a moment before blowing a slow breath out. “All is fair in war, I guess… You truly won’t hurt Virgil?”

“No,” Roman confirmed. “I won’t.”

Logan nodded and then leaned forward quite suddenly to press his lips to Roman’s cheek. “Thank you.”

Roman jerked back in surprise. “I said I didn’t want anything like that.”

“I know,” Logan replied. “It wasn’t like that.”


	14. Zipped Mouths

‘Morning’ was a lot later than it normally was for everyone in camp considering the late-night interruption, but finally Logan ended up getting his book back a little after noon. He noticed immediately upon opening it that some of the pages were once again different. A once empty spot now held a picture of the whirlpool and the picture of the key which had previously just been a sketch was now colored in and had a faint glow to it.

“What?” Roman asked. He must have seen the way Logan smiled at the photo.

“The book changed again when we found the key,” Logan said. He traced a finger across the image of the key, and it shone a bit brighter at his touch.

“Huh,” Roman said, seeming interested himself as he peered over Logan’s shoulder.

After a few moments, Logan flipped to the main map. “We’re going to be traveling to this location,” he stated. “We’re here,” he said tapping at the location of the pond still inscribed in red. “It isn’t actually that far. We should be there by nightfall if we leave soon even with our late start.

“What is the next task?” Roman asked.

“We have to find the lock the key unlocks.”

“What’s the twist? I assume it isn’t just going to tell us the location of it and we just pick it up and go on our way.”

“No, we have to search for it,” Logan confirmed. “The challenge is that we don’t know what it looks like.”

“How would we not know what it looks like?”

Logan raised his eyebrow. “Magic tasks.”

Roman stuck out his tongue. “I know that, but what does that mean? What would it look like then?”

“I’m not sure exactly what the book means,” he admitted. He flipped to the beginning passage of the lock chapter. “Here, I’ll translate the part that explains the task.” He adjusted his glasses and cleared his throat. “There is a rock with seven sides in the clearing where the tributary Atherna meets the Kilvary River. This rock will have an image of the key sketched upon it. The lock is located somewhere in a 20-meter radius circle around the rock. Yet, the lock will not be identifiable as a lock until you press the key upon it. You will know it when you find it.”

“So, we’re just supposed to… press the key to everything in the circle?”

“That seems to be the correct strategy.”

“Hmm,” Roman said. “Can I see that picture?”

“Sure.” Logan handed the book over to him so he could get a look at the picture of the rock.

“This is a cool book,” Roman mused after studying the picture for a few moments. His eyes traveled along the text on the side. “You can read all of this?”

“Yes,” Logan said. “I studied for a lot of years to be able to read this book. It’s like reading English now.”

“Wow,” Roman said. “You’re really smart, aren’t you?”

“I am.”

“Not particularly modest though,” Roman said.

“It is simply a fact,” Logan said. “Though I do have my shortcomings.” He shot him a half smile. “I have been told that I could think my way out of any puzzle but would likely starve to death beforehand out of pure forgetfulness.”

“Did Virgil say that?”

Logan blinked up at him in surprise. They had been dancing around the subject of Virgil since they woke. Logan was sure he was still in the camp, but he hadn’t seen him. He hadn’t quite known how to broach the topic yet and had figured he’d wait until they got settled at the next location. “How did you know?”

“He seems the type.” Roman reached up to touch the bandage on his own cheek from where Virgil had punched him with his spiked brass knuckles.

“Yes,” Logan said. “His influence has aided me in the ability to stab others without thinking it through department. I am unsure if that is a help or hindrance in my day to day life, but it is useful when under attack by bandits.”

Roman’s lips twitched up.

“May I ask,” Logan hedged. “How is Virgil?”

“Have you ever roped a wild horse?”

Logan shook his head.

“Like that basically. He hasn’t settled down so far and every time we tried to back off, he’d just attack again. Currently he’s been tied down in one of the extra tents. I’d like to have a reasonable discussion with him once he’s cooled off to see where we need to go from there, but I’m not sure when that will be. He’s all but foaming at the mouth. I thought you said he was a gardener.”

“He is,” Logan said. “But he was an assassin when he was younger.”

“I’m surprised Prijaznia let such an effective assassin decide to go be a gardener. If he’d killed Arden instead of knocking him unconscious last night, I probably wouldn’t have been awake to fight him off.”

“He was a Mocnejsi one actually,” Logan said. “He was sent to assassinate the king but ended up being captured instead.” Virgil had been aiming for Logan’s father and likely would have easily killed him in his sleep but had gotten the wrong room. He’d ended up in Logan’s room when he and Patton had just so happened to be having one of the slumber parties Patton never let him sleep at. Patton had smacked him over the head with a cookie tray. Patton and he had proceeded to panic as teenagers often did. Virgil ended up living in Logan’s closet for a couple of weeks before dad found him.

“And they just… let him be the gardener?” Roman asked confused.

“He’d only been 14 at the time and quickly endeared himself to the king.” Patton had made Virgil pinky promise not to hurt Logan’s dad by the time the king had stumbled upon him. In true vicious assassin fashion, he’d proceeded to panic and hid under Logan’s bed. Dad hadn’t stood a chance against him… emotionally at least.

“Fourteen?” Roman asked, surprised.

Logan raised an eyebrow. “I had assumed that you knew of such things considering you are a member of the army. They have an entire line of child soldiers from what Virgil has told me. He started killing when he was six.”

“That’s horrible,” Roman said, seeming genuine. “I wasn’t aware anything like that happened.”

“Neither was I until I met Virgil. He was… very hurt by it. I’m surprised he even remembers how to fight so well. He does his best to forget his past except for when he tries to give Patton and I stabbing lessons. Even then it feels more like silly fun than seriousness. He was just a child the last time I saw him fight and then he was more afraid then angry.”

“Well, he’s a damned good fighter still. He’s all but feral. Glad he wasn’t in a killing mood.”

Logan was too. He imagined Roman’s wiliness to leave him unharmed would have been much less if he’d killed some of his people. As it was, Virgil had simply knocked all of the guards on duty unconscious. Everyone who fought him had bumps and bruises but were relatively unharmed.

Janus walked over to them then. There was something off about him though Logan could not place what. He was chewing on his lip, an action Logan had never seen him do before, but he stopped in an instant when Roman looked up from his book, schooling his features. “Everything’s packed up, do we know where we’re going?”

Logan nodded. “We’ll head east along the river for a few hours and be there by nightfall.”

Janus nodded. “I’ve gotten Virgil in a carriage. He’s… not particularly enthused about it.”

“I’d imagine not,” Logan said.

“I can continue to watch him while we go,” he offered Roman, who nodded.

“Thank you, Janus. I appreciate that,” Roman said.

Janus nodded tightly, and Logan packed his book back in his bag before they got on the road.

~

The trip to the new location was uneventful. Roman’s soldiers had grown used to not touching any plants without Logan’s go ahead and the worst thing they ended up crossing was a colony of horse sized fire-ants which they skirted fairly easily. They ended up getting to the correct location and set up camp a bit north of where the lock clearing should be.

Roman had just finished helping set up camp and was about to return to his tent when Janus approached him with a nervous frown. “Where’s Logan?” he asked.

“In the tent, reading his book again.” Janus jerked his head, clearly indicating that he wanted Roman to follow him a bit out of earshot of the other soldiers milling around. Roman did, curious. “What’s wrong?”

“Virgil won’t eat.”

“What?”

“He won’t eat. He won’t talk either. Basically, he’ll only open his mouth to spit at me. He hasn’t budged no matter what I do, and I have very strong doubts that he will any time soon.”

Usually in that situation, Roman would just say to wait it out, hoping he’d give in and eat when he got hungry enough so Roman wouldn’t have to force the issue. However, he had promised Logan he’d make sure he wasn’t harmed, and he felt the need to keep that promise as well as he could. Actually, thinking about it… “Do you think Logan would be able to convince him to eat?”

“It’s possible, but not guaranteed. Virgil can be… stubborn.”

“We’ll at least try,” Roman said. “They probably want to see each other is unharmed anyway.”

“I’m sure they do,” Janus agreed.

With a nod, Roman walked back to his tent and ducked his head in. “Logan?” Roman asked. The sides of Logan’s mouth turned down in irritation at being interrupted in his nerdiness, but he didn’t express those feelings in any other way.

“Yes?”

“Virgil has apparently been refusing to eat today. I was wondering if you’d be willing to talk him out of his hunger strike.”

He was closing the book immediately. “For goodness sake, Virgil,” he muttered under his breath. “Yes, of course I will speak with him.” It sounded more like he was offering to smack sense into him then talk to him. Eh, that would work too.

They quickly found Janus who was holding a bowl of soup. “I got him new soup because the soup I’d been trying to feed him went cold a while ago,” he explained dryly.

“I’ll talk to him,” Logan promised. Janus led them to the tent they were keeping Virgil in.

“I brought you some more soup and a present,” Janus said while entering the tent, more irritation in his tone than Roman had heard since the last time Remus visited.

All Roman heard in response was a growling sound.

He saw Logan roll his eyes. “Stop that,” Logan snapped, entering the tent behind Janus.

“Logan?” Virgil asked. It was the first actual word Roman had heard from him unless you counted the couple of curse words flung around during their fight.

Logan crossed to him and knelt in front of him. He’d been tied very securely down to a pole someone must have hammered into the ground. For most people, it would seem like a bit much, but it was fair considering how wily he seemed to be and the fact that he’d continued to attack every time he found an opening. Logan pressed their foreheads together softly for a moment, likely assuring himself that he was really there and okay. “Act like a human being for five seconds and eat the soup,” Logan grumbled, their foreheads still pressed together.

“You can’t make me,” Virgil responded, his tone bordering on petulant.

Logan drew back. “Virgil,” he said, eyes narrowed. Virgil gritted his teeth. “Virgil you _will_ eat the soup.” Roman blinked at just how much authority he managed to pack into those six words.

Yet, Virgil did not bend to it. “I don’t have to listen to you.”

“Virgil if you attempt to go on a hunger strike just to be difficult, I will kill you myself.”

Virgil stuck out his tongue.

Logan sighed. “What, what is wrong?” he asked tiredly.

Virgil said nothing and Logan stared at him for a few long moments.

“It is not _poisoned_ Virgil.”

“You don’t know that.”

“Janus, give me the soup.” Janus handed it over. “Here, I’ll show you. I’ll try it myself.”

“No! What if it is poisoned?!”

“Virgil, I swear it’s not.”

Virgil shot the soup a suspicious look and Logan sighed. “Roman, come here and taste the soup so he believes it’s not poisoned.”

Roman moved forward and judging by the look Virgil shot him, the man had not been aware Roman was there. Roman was… very glad Virgil was currently tied to a pole. His eyes darkened the moment they landed on Roman. Roman knelt down and ate a spoon full of soup and a little bit of the bread that was with it.

“Does that suffice?” Logan asked Virgil.

Virgil hesitated.

“Virgil, I swear if you don’t eat this soup after all of that…”

“Fine,” Virgil mumbled.

“Good,” Logan said, plucking the spoon from Roman’s grip and scooping up a bit of soup. “Here,” he said. Virgil opened his mouth and accepted the spoonful of food and then the next. His eyes drifted to Roman as he ate, a stone-cold glint in his eyes that made Roman swallow uncomfortably.

“Here,” eat the bread,” Logan said, holding it out. Virgil turned back to him and opened his mouth for the bread. “There, thank you Virgil.” Logan settled his hand on his shoulder. “You’re going to be fine Virgil.”

He turned his death glare on Logan, but Logan didn’t even flinch. Instead he quirked a small smile and brushed a couple of fingers across his cheek. He really, truly cared for Virgil. Of course, Roman had already surmised that from the images in the mirror and the stories, but it was different to see the softness in his eyes for himself. It was so different from how he’d seen him in the beginning. There was no coolness in his eyes when he looked at Virgil. He’d do anything for Virgil; he’d already proven that much and Roman had a feeling the feeling was mutual.


	15. Para Centric

Logan at this point was rather practiced at slipping out of Roman’s tent. A warrior the man may be, but a light sleeper he was not. Logan had occasionally slipped out in the middle of the night when he needed space. Tonight’s venture was made easy since he already knew his destination. He effortlessly slipped around the guards, years of practice avoiding castle guards and lessons from Virgil making it second nature to dip around the tents.

He slipped into Virgil’s tent all but silently, but Virgil’s head still popped up, his eyes defensive until he recognized who his guest was. Logan didn’t speak; he just moved to sit behind him, pressing his shoulders blades back so they touched his. This position always calmed Virgil more than anything else. It was a defensive position, having someone he trusted at his back so no one could sneak up on them. Even within the castle walls, Logan would often find Patton and him sitting like this on the days where his memories made him jumpier than usual. They’d hold hands and Patton would chatter about anything and everything until he calmed. Logan himself felt his shoulders relax just a bit as Virgil tilted his head to push back against Logan’s.

They stayed like that for a few minutes before Logan broke the silence with a quietly snarled, “What do you think you’re doing?”

“Me!” Virgil whispered back.

“Yes _you_ ,” Logan replied. “What are you doing here?”

“What am I doing here?” Virgil asked. “Why do you think I’m here?”

“Because you’re an idiot.”

“Pot, kettle dumbass.”

“My maneuver was calculated.”

“Your maneuver was dog shit,” Virgil spat. “Did you think Patton was just going to accept that? You’re lucky I’m here and not him.”

“Ah, yes, he’d be sure to win storming into camp with a cookie tray.”

“Yeah, well, the cookie tray hurts,” Virgil replied. “Especially when he’s pissed. Which he is, by the way.”

“Would you have rather I let him die?”

“I’d rather have neither of you die.”

“I’d been under the impression that both of us would have died if I hadn’t bargained.” Roman had told him recently that he actually wouldn’t have killed everyone, and he thinks he might even believe him, but that didn’t mean that he hadn’t thought that at the time.

“And what about your newest barging?” Virgil spat.

“I’d take my discomfort over your death any day,” Logan said. “He didn’t accept, by the way.”

“Well great, he meets the lowest bar of human decency,” Virgil said darkly. “Janus said that, but I couldn’t be sure he was telling the truth.”

“He does have a habit of fibbing,” Logan said, “but not about that.”

“You’re not supposed to offer shit like that,” Virgil said. “You were the one who told me to never offer shit like that.”

“You were 14 and trying to pay for the use of a bed. I’m an adult. I knew what I was doing.”

“Did you?” Virgil asked darkly.

“Yes,” Logan insisted. “Besides, Roman’s an idiot. I likely could have convinced him he was in love with me by the end of the week. It likely wouldn’t have been that bad after that.”

Virgil slammed his skull into Logan’s sharply, likely hurting the both of them. “You’re the idiot.”

“I’m just being pragmatic.”

“Fuck off, Lo.”

They were silent after that for a while, doing nothing but absorbing the warmth from each other against their backs.

“You could try to let me go,” Virgil said.

Even the thought of doing so made his limbs lock up for a millisecond. Magic was as much about one’s thoughts and perceptions as actualities and Logan was convinced that releasing Virgil was as good as lunging to slit Roman’s throat himself. It would be an active rebellion against the deal and, while passive resistance such as purposefully straying too far from Roman would grate on him until he gave into the urge to return, doing something like that would simply, physically not be allowed. It was the difference between delaying the conclusion of the deal and preventing it entirely. Magic was lenient on the first, but not on the second. “You were the one to explain how these types of deals work to me. I know you would immediately try to take me away which means freeing you would go against the deal.”

“What if you didn’t think I’d try to take you away.”

Logan rolled his eyes. “There is no way to convince myself of that.”

“What if I pinky promise.”

Logan snorted. “I still wouldn’t believe you.”

“Come on, I have a history of upholding the sacred promise.” He leaned his head back so his skull rested on Logan’s shoulder and his hair was visible to Logan. Though the toothy smile was pointed at the ceiling, Logan could still see it in his head. “You can trust me.”

“Unfortunately, we are no longer literal children and I know pinky promises only hold weight with you if they are made with a certain person.”

“Why do you have to be so distrustful?” Virgil asked. “You could just believe the lie.”

“You’d have to keep me restrained for the rest of my life.” Virgil could do it. If he picked up Logan and ran away with him, it would have no negative affects on Logan since he wasn’t the person resisting the deal. However, Logan would be compelled to come back to Roman and if he ever physically could try to return to him, he would have to or would face the consequences.

“It’s better than _this,_ ” Virgil argued.

Logan just shrugged. “I made my decision. I knew the consequences. I’m amazed the ruse has lasted this long.”

“Well you’re dumb as hell, but you’re clever,” Virgil said. “Clever enough to spin a web of lies right under Janus’s nose. Which… impressive.” He paused. “I knew him by the way.”

“Janus?” Logan asked.

He hummed. “From before, when I was a kid. He was with the man I reported to for a while. I felt bad for him when we were kids. He’s a couple of years older than me but had it a lot worse. If anyone is treated worse than poor orphan boys in Mocnejsi, it’s multrums. He especially wasn’t having a good time with _that_ man.” Logan could feel the slight shudder that went through Virgil at the memory and felt anger burn through him directed at a man he’d never met for two people he considered friends. “He likes to lie to everyone because he can, but they can’t lie back. He thinks it’s funny.”

“I’ve noticed he does that,” Logan replied.

“I tried to turn him traitor after you left earlier. I told him I could get him any job he wants in Prijaznia, but he refused.”

“He’s rather loyal to Roman,” Logan said with a nod.

Virgil made a hissing sound at Roman’s name.

“Settle down, he could be a worse captor.”

“How?”

“He could have killed you.” That silenced him for a moment. “Thank you for not killing the guards. I know you could have.”

“Yeah, well, if I did, I would have won,” he grumbled, “but someone infected me with a value for human life.”

“Apologies for that,” Logan said with a half-smile.

“Most of the blame goes to Patton.”

“True.”

There was another pause. “I never met Roman personally, obviously, but I did hear of him. I even worked with his twin brother a few times. They were both pretty new when I still worked with the Mocnejsi army. They’re both from The North and are high ranking in their government system though it means a lot less now that they’re “allied” with Mocnejsi. Roman was rising in the ranks pretty fast and people seemed to like him, but they kept him away from the messy stuff. His brother on the other hand was in covert ops. He was alright, I guess, but a bit scary. I didn’t personally see him do anything too bloody, but he had a mouth on him, and the rumor mills spun about him. He’s manipulative when he’s not being crass or gory and likes to play with people.”

“Roman’s mentioned his brother and his position in his home country. Everyone in his group appears to also be from The North baring Janus. They’re a tight knit group and loyal. Roman’s an idiot mostly and stubborn, but he has good instincts and is personable. He noticed a few of my tricks though I was able to talk my way out of it. In fact, if it wasn’t for Janus, he likely would have pushed harder at those intersections. He can be rough and isn’t afraid to threaten violence, but I have yet to see him act on those threats. If he were on our side, I’d approve of him as a general. Against me, he is something to be feared.”

“Good to know, I’m going to continue to hate him,” Virgil informed him.

“I would expect nothing less. Have you met anyone besides Patton or Patton approved people whom you do not hate?”

“Believe it or not, for some reason, my lack of hate for you was concurrent with my lack of hate for Patton. In fact, it may have happened quicker considering you never smacked me over the head with a blunt object.”

“Mmm, see I thought that his ability to viciously take you down in two seconds was the appeal of Patton.”

“Okay, well maybe a little, but I had to hit puberty first.”

“Disgusting.”

Virgil just laughed. “I missed you, Lo.”

“I missed you too. I wish you weren’t here, but I missed you too.”

~

Roman was a tad suspicious about how hard it was to drag Logan out of bed in the morning considering the fact that he was usually awake before Roman and it was the first day of the new task. Not to mention Roman knew he could sneak out if he wanted to after that one time he’d caught him out in the woods; he should put a bell on him or something. Yet, Virgil was still there in the morning according to Janus (and the lack of a knife in Roman’s throat) and ate after only a bit of caterwauling. So, even if Logan had snuck out, it wasn’t something Roman was particularly worried about.

He managed to nudge a grumpy Logan, (and goodness was Logan actually kind of fun when it was the whiny type of grumpy instead of the silent death glare type. Roman might even say cute, but he was smart enough to keep that thought smothered deep inside himself.) out of the tent after about 20 minutes. After breakfast, Logan opened the book again and gave them directions to where the rock should be. They spent the morning searching and eventually found one that matched the picture and description in the book. Clearly finding the rock was not the point of the task. The challenge, Roman thought as they measured out the 20-meter radius (plus a little extra just in case) around the rock and marked it off, was that a 20-meter circle was actually pretty big. It was especially daunting when they were supposed to find something without any knowledge of its shape or size. For all they knew, the lock could be one of the uncountably many blades of grass.

“So, what’s the strategy here?” Roman asked Logan.

Logan sighed, surveying the marked off area. “I suppose it will have to be a similar strategy to what we did at the pond. We will section off areas and use the key to search each part one-by-one.”

“So, we just… rub the key over everything in the circle and see if anything happens?” Roman asked.

Logan met his eyes. He looked as exhausted at the prospect as Roman felt. “That seems to be the only avenue open to us.” He rubbed his temples for a few seconds. “Unfortunately.”

“Well,” Roman said. “I guess we should all get started.”

The problem with this became obvious on the second day of searching. Roman’s troupe was already getting antsy by the time lunch rolled around. The cause of this was clear: there was one key and 24 people searching. Unlike the pond where they could all search one area pretty easily together, this task made searching only potentially fruitful when the person searching had the key. Otherwise, everyone was just crawling around on the grass uselessly. Not to mention the act of searching grass on your knees was a whole lot less fun than swimming around a cool pond.

“This is actually a journey designed for 2 people, as illustrated by the mirror task,” Logan pointed out when he brought up this problem during lunch. The two of them had sat down together slightly apart from the rest of the group since Janus was currently back at camp with 2 other guards to play babysitter to Virgil.

Roman thought for a long moment. “Perhaps we should split into pairs and take shifts. We should probably send some groups out to hunt or even back for supplies considering,” he looked at the circle which seemed even wider after the day of searching, “we might be here a while.”

Logan nodded. “It would certainly be better for morale if they only had to do such a task a couple of hours every few days and the rest of the time had a chance to take breaks. The pond could be considered fun and it often dissolved into that, but this task is one sure to try patience.

“I agree,” but then he had a thought, “but will you be able to take breaks?” he asked thinking back to the pond and the one day Logan spent at it searching alone when Roman had given everyone the day off. Being compelled to do this job for hours and days on end would be horrible.

Logan thought for a few minutes. “I think,” he said, “if we are making progress towards the goal and my involvement would not be beneficial, even a hindrance as too many people will only make the task harder, I should be able to refrain from being a part of it constantly.”

“Good,” Roman said with a smile. “You deserve at least a little break.” Maybe more than that, Roman thought looking at him. He’d been oblivious to it at the beginning, but he’d come to realize that Logan was under constant stress the entire time.

Roman had changed his opinion on Logan over the last two months they’d traveled together and seeing him with Virgil the last few days had hastened his change in perspective. Roman had at first believed that his decision to give the prince up had been an easy decision to save his own hide and the calm emotionless way Logan had gone about it in the beginning had only served to reinforce this perception to Roman. Yet, that had clearly not been the case. The decision had not been easy for him. Quick, he’d said once. Not easy. Roman could understand that now.

Logan was not emotionless; in fact, the exact opposite was true. His emotional connection to his friends is what drove him to make the deal with Roman. His friends were simply more important than the crown. While Roman was not sure if he could agree with his decision, it was understandable. It was perhaps not noble to give up your prince’s location and risk your entire country’s safety, but it had come from a place of love, not of selfishness.

And it hadn’t been a decision he’d made lightly. Logan hadn’t even expected to survive this to the end. Once Roman had thought that the deal was made to save his own skin and had resented him for it, punishing him in little ways for his perceived cowardness, but once Roman understood the deal a bit more, he realized that was not really fair. Logan had known exactly what he was doing when he made the deal. The compulsion itself hanging over him was bad enough, let alone the knowledge of what he’d done and the separation from his friends and life.

He deserved to be able to take a little bit of a break. To go look at rocks and plants like a nerd. This would be good for him.

They spent the rest of lunch making groups and a schedule that would maximize results both in searching for the lock and performing other useful tasks. Logan was very good at strategizing with Roman’s insights into interpersonal relationships and job preferences. In under an hour, they had a well-structured schedule that allowed plenty of breaks for everyone including Logan himself (though there was some needling from Roman to get him there; the man was a bit of a workaholic).

When they explained the new plans to the group, everyone seemed relieved. It was a much better plan than having the roll around in the grass for 8 hours a day for no reason.


	16. Keyed Up

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Semi-explicit talk of sex in this chapter.

Their time searching for the lock ended up much more pleasant than the previous tasks. Logan ended up only actively searching for a couple of hours at a time every two days, though he couldn’t resist checking in on how the task was going frequently. Typically, he was paired with Roman for the actual searching, though rarely he spent the day with Janus. (Janus did not often search the circle because he was usually watching over Virgil. Virgil was still spending his days tied up in a tent because he could never manage to truthfully say that the first thing he’d do upon being released wasn’t to try to murder Roman.) Other than that, there wasn’t really much he needed to do.

Roman had begun encouraging him to search the surrounding forest for useful things. Roman often accompanied him on these excursions and, at first, he’d assumed he did so to watch him, but over the weeks, Logan began to accept that it likely had to do more with actual interest. He asked questions about what Logan was doing and why during their excursions and would often help. They spent many of their days finding edible plants that made dinner less bland every night. Roman had a good eye for things once he knew what he was looking for. In fact, he knew plenty about general survival and would likely outmatch Logan in any other environment. Logan had just spent decades studying this particular environment. His skills however, tended to lean more towards what one could eat and how, while Logan had much more knowledge about using different things for potion ingredients. While there was quite the overlap in these two subjects, they still found they had things to teach each other.

Logan had even taught him how to make a few low-level potions. He was an impressively quick learner and succeeded after a few attempts with most things Logan taught him. Even when he failed, it wasn’t bad as none of the ingredients Logan chose were harmful and Roman never seemed unjustly angry about his failings. Instead, he would give Logan wide eyed pouts as Logan cackled at his bright blue hair. Logan wondered when he would learn that the pouting only made Logan laugh harder every time. Perhaps he already knew. Logan wouldn’t put it past him.

Like, today, Logan had already been on the receiving end of many pouts. They had found a tree that Roman had sworn “had edible bark on the inside” over an hour ago. Yet, getting to said bark had been causing him plenty of issues.

There was a thunk. “Ow!” Roman exclaimed as he smacked himself in the head again with the sharp piece of wood he’d been using… or attempting to use to peel off the outer part of the tree. “Don’t laugh,” he said, rounding on Logan.

Logan hid his smile. “I made no noise whatsoever.”

“I can hear you laughing in your head.”

“That is very much impossible. Unless you are a mind reader, though I have heard that those are more likely to experience thoughts as almost feelings or sometimes images if they are more practiced.”

“Can you not be a sarcastic asshole for five minutes?”

“I was simply informing you of a fact,” Logan said.

“Mhmm,” Roman said, turning back to the tree with a glare. “I can tell the difference between actually oblivious Logan and asshole Logan by this point. It’s in the tone and the way you squint your eyes trying not to smile.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Logan said.

Roman grunted and dropped the tool. Instead, he just pulled at the little hole he’d made with his fingernails.

“That isn’t a rational way to…” Yet as he was speaking a giant piece of bark suddenly came off.

Roman gave a satisfied sound and turned to him. “You were saying?”

“I’d like to point out that in a survival situation, you very much would have died expending that much energy before getting the food out.”

“Silence knave!” He pranced over to sit next to Logan on the rock he’d been sitting on for the last hour or so. “Besides, the point isn’t to survive. It’s that it tastes really good!”

“Assuming you managed to choose the correct tree and I’m not about to eat wood.”

Roman pinched his arm and shoved the piece of tree at him.

“If this is just wood, I get your bread and jam at dinner.”

“It’s not just wood.”

Logan looked at him for another second before reaching to scratch at the inside until it shredded a bit and then picked some up. Well, it wouldn’t be the weirdest thing he’d eaten. He put a little in his mouth.

“So?” Roman asked once he’d swallowed.

“It tastes like parchment paper that has been soaked in sugar water.”

“Tasted a lot of parchment paper in your day, nerdzilla?” Roman asked. Logan glared at him. “I’ll choose to take that as you like it.” He threw his arm around Logan’s shoulders.

“Ugh, no, you’re sweaty,” Logan said, trying to push him away and failing.

Roman flashed him a wicked smile before relenting and pulling his arm away. He took the piece of tree bark back for himself and started tearing off long strips to eat. Logan watched him as he ate. Despite his complaints about the sweat, Roman sweaty wasn’t actually… that… bad.

Roman was actually not that bad. Logan had spent almost two months hating him, but the last three weeks had gentled his perception towards him. They’d both been very stubborn in the beginning, and it had been easy for Logan to categorize him as only an enemy and not budge when Roman had acted unfairly. Yet, now, in fact, perhaps since shortly after the mirror realm, he’d not been acting that way. Logan could see why everyone under his command liked him. He was personable and considerate when he wanted to be. He listened to what Logan said and liked to learn about the things Logan knew. It was more than Logan could say for a majority of people he had met.

It turned out, they had far more in common than Logan had expected. Though Logan had to resist commenting on it, it seemed their upbringings were rather similar. They were both raised to be leaders and to think about the good of the people they were meant to rule above their own desires. Yet, they both had those desires. They both seemed to have that itch to go out and experience the world and while the situations were very different, they had both managed to engineer a way to succeed in having adventure while still performing their duty to their people in some way.

Roman had joined the Mocnejsi army in the hopes of strengthening The North’s alliance with them and to hopefully give The North more power in said alliance. It had worked, in a way, considering The North was still considered its own territory whereas the others in that “alliance” had been absorbed in the last decade or so. Yet, despite helping his country hold onto some independence, it also allowed Roman to travel and to have adventure while he likely would not have had the chance considering his position in The North otherwise.

And then Logan had done _this._ He managed to fit his own selfish desires into the death march of a martyr.

If they had not met on opposite sides of a war, Logan imagined they would have been fast friends (after perhaps a small adjustment period).

As it were… they were friends now, Logan thought, oddly enough. It was almost as odd as the other thoughts Logan was having. The types of thoughts Patton had about Virgil sometimes. The please, please don’t tell me anymore, I don’t want to know, types of thoughts.

He honestly did not have much experience dealing with those types of thoughts. Any thoughts along that line were often suppressed rather quickly. He did not have many people he was close to back in the castle his age besides Patton and Virgil, and he simply had never saw fit to see either of them in that light. Even if he had, they’d been very happy together for almost a decade now. Any passing interest towards anyone else had been stifled since it felt unclothe to act upon them if there was any risk of them feeling pressure because of his position. Then, the few times he’d thought a royal attractive, the feelings had been quickly snuffed out when they opened their mouths, usually to insult his interests in some way.

Yet, here he was now, without his title hanging over his head (at least in that way) with a man who had spent the past few weeks helping him collect potion ingredients and look at interesting colored rocks…. A man who had already at one point expressed an interest in some sort of sexual relationship. In light of that, the thoughts had not easily been halted and would often come back when Logan didn’t do his due diligence checking them.

“Hey,” Roman said. “I actually have something for you.” Logan turned to him as he bent over and grabbed something out of his bag. He drew out the knife he’d taken from Logan after the incident with the terrakraki and offered it to him.

Logan took the knife slowly. “Thank you,” he said.

“I thought you might want it back and there doesn’t seem to be a reason to keep you unarmed anymore.”

Logan wrapped his hand around the hilt. “Virgil gave this to me,” he divulged.

“Oh,” Roman said. “I’m even more sorry for taking it from you then.”

Something intense shot through Logan then at the genuine regret in his tone, but he could not identify it. “I accept your apology,” Logan said. He carefully took the knife and returned it to its rightful place in his bag.

Roman gave him a half smile and went back to scraping off a bit of the tree bark with his own knife. He offered some to Logan once he’d gotten enough. Logan took the offered food and chewed it slowly, watching him.

“Roman,” he said after a moment, and Roman tilted his head towards him. Logan placed his hand on the man’s knee. “I would like to try the kissing thing again.”

~

“Y-you what?” Roman sputtered.

“Kissing, Roman,” Logan said in the tone he usually used when he thought Roman was being particularly stupid. “I was unprepared and uncomfortable with the state of our relationship the first time, but I’d like to try again.”

“You want to kiss me?” Roman asked.

“Yes.”

“Sorry,” Roman said, holding up a finger. “I’m confused.”

“It’s where two people put their mouths together in this case for some sort of sexual gratification.”

Roman squeaked at the phrasing and then waggled a finger at him. “You know I know the definition of kissing.”

“I am aware you are familiar with the action, though I wasn’t sure if you knew the word for it,” he said, doing that squinty eyed teasing expression again.

“You suck,” Roman groaned, hiding his face in his hands.

“Is that a no?” Logan asked.

“It… why do you want to kiss me anyway? Where did that come from?”

Logan shrugged. “You are aesthetically pleasing,” Roman tried not to blush at the matter-of-fact tone he used, “and we have been getting along in recent weeks. It is an idea I have been contemplating for a while now.”

“It’s not an idea you seemed comfortable with before,” Roman pointed out. It had been very clear that Logan did not want to kiss him before. Roman being an idiot who didn’t control his own impulses had ruined what little of a relationship they’d had at the time and caused clear duress for Logan for days. Roman did not want anything like that to happen again.

“You were an asshole before.”

“And I’m not an asshole now?” he asked, just the slightest bit amused.

“Well…” Logan drawled. “You’re a controllable asshole now.”

“Oh, I’m controllable, am I?” he asked, leaning forward into his space to hover over him. Roman wasn’t sure why he thought he would react any more affected than the times Roman had been actually threatening him.

Logan gave him a droll look, and Roman glared at him before a smirk grew on his lips.

“Wait, Ro-,” Logan started, but it was too late because Roman had already grabbed him off the rock they’d been sitting on and tackled him to the ground as gently as possible. “-man _don’t_ ,” he finished while scowling up at Roman. He reached up to adjust his glasses. “Ugh,” he said squirming. “You’re still all sweaty.”

“Hmm,” Roman thought, observing the way he wasn’t actually demanding to be let go, but just idly complaining, “see you just said you’d been ‘contemplating’ kissing me for a while and you chose to ask about it while fully aware I was sweaty. So, for some reason, I don’t think you actually mind all that much.”

That seemed to steal the words right from his head. “Well… I,” he stammered. Roman was delighted when a tinge of red dusted across his face.

“Oh, is that a blush I see. Look at that, Logan can be flustered,” Roman teased.

“Pilgarlic,” he muttered. Roman did not know what that word meant, but he could guess from context clues.

“Maybe,” he agreed. “Do you still want to kiss me?”

He sighed loudly, a very put-upon sound that made Roman narrow his eyes. “For some reason,” he groused and then grabbed the front of Roman’s shirt. Roman had a moment to think that, oh, this was happening now, as Logan pulled and sat up a bit himself to press their lips together. Roman kissed back carefully after a moment. Inquisitive was perhaps an apt descriptor for the kiss. Logan seemed curious and Roman let him explore. He wondered how many people he’d kissed before. He did seem like someone more inclined to make out with books than people. He stored that comment away for later. It would be sure to get some sort of fun reaction out of the man, but perhaps not the one he wanted at this moment.

It was only after a short bout of kissing that Logan pushed at his chest. Roman drew back from the kiss in the same moment. Yet, he continued to shove and Roman confusedly allowed himself to be pushed all the way off him until they were sitting next to each other.

He blinked as Logan crawled into his lap. “Oh. I see.”

Instead of responding verbally, Logan just grabbed the hair at the back of his head and pulled him back into another kiss. Roman settled his hands on his waist, pulling him closer and letting him lead it into something steamier than before.

They drew apart after a few minutes to breathe.

“Okay?” Logan asked.

“Mhmm,” Roman said before leaning forward to kiss a quick line up his neck. The fingers in Roman’s hair tightened and Roman smiled. “Good?” he asked.

“Yeah,” he said and then his hands were out of Roman’s hair and on his shoulders, pushing him backwards onto the ground. Logan kissed him again and Roman closed his eyes, letting his hand trail down the other man’s spine until it rested on his lower back.

Roman drew back, eyes wide, when Logan shifted a bit on top of him. “Um,” he suggested. “Maybe we should… go a little bit slower than that?”

“Why?” Logan asked with a curious head tilt.

“Er, well,” Roman stuttered, “because this is really new, like a few minutes ago new. We haven’t even talked about anything, uh, else. Also, there are some issues. Mainly you’re still technically my prisoner. I don’t… I’m not sure if it’s right of me to do anything further than kissing with you.”

Logan frowned at him. “I assure you Roman, despite our current position, I am an adult and am capable of making my own decisions. I am willingly consenting, in fact, I am the one initiating.”

“I know, I know,” Roman said. He gently pushed Logan off himself. “Just with the compulsion…”

“Nothing is compelling me to initiate a sexual relationship with you Roman.”

“I know that, but it’s still… still…”

“Still a no,” Logan filled in, eyes almost looking hurt.

“It’s…” Roman rushed to say, not wanting him to think it was because Roman would never have been interested. “… a not quite yet.”

Logan mulled this over. “Alright,” he agreed. “Later then.” Roman took a breath, figuring that he’d communicated that they would need to wait until after the compulsion was gone completely.

…

Roman probably should have clarified.


	17. Malarkey

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Semi-explicit talk of sex in this chapter.

Logan stormed into the tent that held Virgil. Virgil blinked up at him in surprise, probably because it was the middle of the day and Logan had no escort. Though Roman did make sure he had the option to see his friend whenever he wanted, he was always accompanied by him or Janus during the day. It had gotten to the point where Virgil could mostly move around the tent. Roman was (rightfully) unwilling to let him loose more than that since Virgil still had very murderous intentions. Logan of course, frequently snuck in alone during the night, but he was usually very careful about his secret visits.

Today, however, he was too frustrated to care. It had been weeks since he and Roman had first kissed for real, and it had been nice, very nice, but he couldn’t help but to be agitated. He had been feeling… feelings and it was all Roman’s fault. Every time Roman brushed by him or leaned in to peer at some rock or plant with Logan, Logan felt an almost painful lurch. Sometimes it was soothed by one of the kisses they’d shared over the weeks, but sometimes it seemed to make it worse. He found himself feeling like his insides were tied up in knots when he thought about the future now. He’d always been nervous for the day that Roman found out the truth, but now it somehow seemed to hang over him even more. It made him want to get closer to him and to push him farther away and the conflicting desires tore at him.

This must be what lust felt like, right? At least that had an easy solution, or so one would think. Unfortunately, the focus of these feelings seemed to have no intention of giving Logan any sort of outlet. Logan had been patient, but Roman had done nothing more than kissing with him and even that was often chaste. Why when Logan decided he wanted to participate in a sexual relationship did the person he was trying to engage in one with decide to be too noble to reciprocate?

“What’s going on Lo?” Virgil asked, sensing Logan’s agitation.

“He won’t have sex with me.”

“… _What?_ ”

“Roman. He won’t have sex with me.”

“Isn’t that… good?” Virgil asked, sounding very confused. Logan started to pace back and forth in front of him. “Oh my god. You want to have sex with him?”

“Clearly. Otherwise I would not be in such a state of agitation over the fact that he continues to refuse.”

“I’m sorry, I’m lost,” Virgil said. “When did this happen? How did this happen? A month and a half ago it seemed like the last thing you’d want to do. You were terrified of the thought.”

“I was not terrified,” Logan insisted with a frown.

“Lo, dude, I know that you’ve been spending time with people who haven’t known you since you were 17 but come on. I know a scared Logan. Don’t try to lie to me.”

“Well I’m not ‘scared’ now,” Logan said.

“You thought he’d be willing to rape you,” Virgil pointed out.

“Yes, but then he didn’t.”

“ _That_ cannot be where the bar is.”

Logan groaned and sunk to the ground to take his normal night position with his back against Virgil’s. He curled his legs up so he could tuck his forehead against them. “This sucks.”

“Why do you even want to have sex with him?!” Virgil asked.

“Life’s short and he’s hot. Forgive me if I want to experience something of the like before I die,” Logan said and then paused. “Oh god, what am I doing? I’m going to die by that man’s hand.”

“I really _don’t_ know what you’re doing Logan,” Virgil replied.

“He’d probably be really gentle about it though, the sex, not the killing. Don’t you think?”

“I think that I really don’t want to talk about this Lo,” Virgil groaned.

“I never did quite understand you and Patton’s inclination to roll around in the hay loft, but I believe I am starting to understand if this is the typical way you two feel.”

“Ugh, it was _one_ time, and I immediately regretted it and not just because you caught us.”

“Hmm, yes I did wonder at the time why the two of you were willing to remove clothing in such a place. Hay agitates Patton’s _legs_ when he’s _standing_ in it. Yet, if these feelings are the alternative, it is an understandable move. This is horrible.”

“If you’re really so sexually frustrated, why don’t you just try with someone else if Roman won’t?” Virgil asked reasonably. “There’s got to be dozens of people in this camp.”

“Twenty-four not counting Janus and Roman.”

“See, go ask one of them. I met the head chef…”

“River.”

“River a few days ago. He seemed fine. Try him.”

_No._ “No,” Logan said.

“Why not?” Virgil asked.

“Because, just because.”

“Oh god,” Virgil groaned. “Please tell me this isn’t _about_ Roman.”

“I would screw him in a hay loft.”

“Of all the people in the world to ignite your libido…or whatever he’s ignited.”

“We actually did make out in a patch of flowers last week,” Logan said, ignoring him. “It wasn’t unpleasant though I imagine it would be better on a bed. Unfortunately, there aren’t any of those at our disposal, so we’ve been making do.”

“Wait,” Virgil growled. “This isn’t just theoretical? You’ve actually been making out with him.”

“Yes, Virgil, keep up.” Virgil bonked the back of their heads together. “Yet, every time I move anywhere near his genitals-”

“Oh my god.”

“-he puts a stop to all sexual activity. You and Patton had sex on the first date. How did you convince him of that?”

“First of all,” Virgil choked. “We did _not_ have sex on the first date. For the thousandth time, we just fell asleep cuddling. We were fully clothed! Second of all, even if we had sex on the first date, we’d known each other for years and were best friends by then. So, there was enough of an emotional baseline that it wouldn’t have been much of a jump. Third, and this is the most important point, so listen carefully, neither of us were under a blood compulsion to stay with one another.”

“Ugh, you sound like Roman,” Logan groaned. “I am fully capable of deciding that I want to have sexual intercourse with him before he executes me.”

“Logan are you even listening to yourself right now?!” Virgil asked, his voice loud enough to attract attention from outside.

“ _You_ are definitely supposed to be in here right now,” Janus drawled as he entered the tent.

“Oh god, Janus, I’m so happy to see you,” Virgil said.

Janus stared at him for a moment. “You are?” he asked, clearly confused.

“Logan came in here to talk about your boss’s dick. Please remove him from my presence.”

Janus turned to Logan. “You two…?”

“Only theoretically,” Logan mumbled. “Unfortunately.”

Janus’s eyes scanned the two of them and then something changed in his expression that Logan didn’t understand. Virgil on the other hand groaned. “Please, god, no Janus,” he begged.

“So, you want to get into Roman’s pants?” he asked.

“ _Please_ don’t do this to me,” Virgil begged. “If you’re going to encourage this, at least don’t do it in front of me.”

“Yes, very much so,” Logan replied.

Janus smiled and settled into a sitting position at their sides. “Well I surely don’t have a few suggestions for you in that regard having known him for many years.”

“By context clues, I am assuming this is one of your blatant falsehood moments,” Logan said. Virgil’s head came back to bonk against his again. “Ow, Virgil. That is not necessary.”

“I think it’s very necessary!”

Janus just grinned a toothy smile at the both of them.

~

“Where’s Janus?” Roman asked Theo.

“He went in to see the beast,” he answered, pointing at Virgil’s tent. Roman would tell him not to call Virgil that, but it was becoming apparent that it was a term of respect and almost endearment for their half feral assassin friend among the camp. Even Logan had seemed amused by the nickname when he’d overheard it. So, Roman let it go.

He turned to enter the tent and was surprised to see not only Janus and Virgil, but Logan as well. Janus had been speaking to Logan, but cut himself off when Roman entered, giving Roman an innocent look. Roman was immediately suspicious of that. Logan seemed unaffected which was even more suspicious. Yet the most damming thing was that Virgil looked like he was being physically tortured.

“…What?” Roman asked.

“Nothing,” Janus answered.

“It isn’t your concern,” Logan said calmly.

Virgil looked up at him, mouth set in a line. “If you have sex with him while he’s under a blood bind of any kind, I will find a way to slit your throat within the day.”

There was a long pause.

Logan turned to slap Virgil upside the head. “That is the opposite message that I’ve been trying to send.”

“You’ve been talking about me!” Roman full on shrieked, feeling his face heat instantly.

“Yes,” Logan replied, unrepentant. “Virgil is my best friend, and Janus had many interesting pointers and anecdotes.”

“You what?!” Roman asked, turning on Janus. “What did you say?!!”

“Oh, nothing at all,” Janus replied with an eye flutter.

“You are the worst friend in the world.”

“Lie.”

“Don’t do the _thing_ when I’m mad at you!”

Janus just smiled.

“You,” Roman said, face in his hands. “Ugh.”

“Did you need something, Roman?” Janus asked pleasantly.

Roman groaned into his hands.

“Give him a moment,” Janus said to the others.

Roman peeled his hands off his face to glare at him. “I wanted to tell you,” he pointed at Janus, “that you’re in charge of the camp today because Isla found a hidden cave and I wanted him,” he pointed at Logan, “to come investigate it as it sounded like something within his expertise.”

“A cave?” Logan asked, already with a bit of interest.

“It has magical rocks.”

Logan’s eyes lit up a bit and, yeah, that’s what Roman had anticipated.

“Ah, a cave date then,” Janus said. “Sounds like something the two of you would enjoy.”

“It’s not a…” he trailed off remembering who he was talking to when Janus raised an eyebrow. “Uh… Let’s just go if you’re up to it, Logan.”

“I am very much ‘up to it,’” Logan said getting to his feet.

“No sex, Logan,” Virgil hissed at him, and Roman was blushing again. Logan just hopped to his feet and patted the bound man on the head. “No sex, you dumb-ass bastard.” Logan was already pulling Roman out of the tent.

“So… what did Janus say?” Roman asked as they left camp.

“Nothing much,” Logan said. “He gave me some tips.”

“Like what.”

“He told me you like red flowers, but I already figured from your reaction when I gave you those flowers last week. He also mentioned your favorite foods, but that’s rather useless considering we have no access to the ingredients to make them.”

Oh, okay that didn’t seem too bad then.

“He also described in detail every person you had or thought about having sex with since he met you and why.”

“Oh god.”

“It was informative, though I am unsure what to do with the information. I began to believe he just wanted to see my reactions to the things he said.”

“I’m going to kill him,” Roman said. “I wish he was here so I could tell him I was going to kill him, and he’d know I meant it.”

“I am not a multrum, but even I know that is a lie. You wouldn’t kill someone you care for.”

“He’d deserve it.”

Logan just hummed and Roman directed him down the correct path towards the cave. Theo had taken him to see it earlier that morning after stumbling on it when he, Iris, and Sebastian were berry picking the day before. It was about a 20-minute walk from camp and well-hidden unless one is the accident-prone Iris. Yet, now that Roman had been shown its entrance, it was fairly easy to find.

Logan’s eyes lit up when they stepped into the cave. It was a wet cave with an underground lake taking up most of the space. Roman guessed by the bubbles on the surface that it was fed by some underground spring. Even Roman, with his rudimentary knowledge of magic could tell that magic oozed off the walls. The walls sparkled despite the lack of direct light and moss grew on the surface of the pond in a deep orange color.

Roman took a seat a few feet away from the pond and watched as Logan poked around the cave curiously for a long time. “I think,” he said after a while, “this was a cockatrice nest.”

Roman’s eyes widened and he scurried to his feet. “It was a _what_?” he asked.

“Don’t worry, not recently,” he said and had the audacity to roll his eyes at Roman’s reaction to the fact that they were sitting in the nest of a beast that could kill them by looking at them. “In fact,” he continued. “It’s been quite some time since it was active.” He picked up a rock. “This seems to be a fossilized egg.”

“Huh…” Roman said, still a bit hesitant, but Logan seemed to have no such qualms. He moved the fossil into the light and studied it before putting it into his bag.

“What if that hatches!”

“It’s a fossil, Roman.”

“A magical fossil.”

“I assure you,” he scoffed. “It’s fine.”

“If I die, it’s your fault.”

“Oh, you have that backwards.”

“What?”

“Nothing. Come here.”

Roman did without question despite the magic fossil of death. Logan put his arms around his neck and pulled him down for a kiss. “Oh, is this what we’re doing now?” he asked, amused once they drew apart.

“You were the one who brought me here,” Logan said. “We’re alone and most people in camp don’t even know where this place is located. Was the intention not to make-out in the magical cave?”

“Well, I also thought you might like to look at it,” Roman said. “It seemed like something you’d find interesting.”

It seemed to take Logan a moment to process that. “I do find it interesting,” he confirmed, voice odd. “It’s a nice surprise.” He tugged gently on Roman’s hair until Roman leaned down to kiss him again. Without quite knowing how it happened, the next thing he knew, he was laying on the slightly damp cave floor.

They broke apart just for Logan to press a kiss to the corner of his mouth. “We should have sex.”

Roman groaned (and not in the good way) and pressed his head into the dirt. “No, Logan,” he said.

Logan moved to hover over him even more than he had been before. “Please?”

“We’ve had this conversation so many times Logan. It… I just don’t feel comfortable when you are compelled to be here.”

Logan gave Roman an expression one could call a pout if one did not value one’s life. “Do you ever intent to move past kissing with me?”

“Well, yeah,” Roman said, “once this is all over and we’ve found the prince.”

Logan studied him. “You expect this to last beyond that event?”

“Well… yes I was sort of hoping.”

There was an unreadable expression on his face. “So, the plan is,” Logan said levelly. “We find the prince and you do whatever you plan to do with him, and we can progress our relationship after that.”

“I mean, that would be the end of the deal. We wouldn’t have to worry about the compulsion anymore. I think it would be better for both of us.”

“Right,” Logan said, something odd in his tone. “Great. Fine. That works.” He crashed his lips back onto Roman’s suddenly and Roman made a startled sound before pushing him away.

“What’s wrong?” Roman asked.

“Nothing,” Logan replied bitterly.

“Logan…” Roman said. He gently touched his cheek, and Logan blew air out of his nose harshly. Roman wrapped his arm around his waist and gently flipped them so Logan was on the bottom. “Hey,” Roman said softly. “Is it about the prince?”

“What else would it be about, Roman?” he asked tiredly. It made sense, of course. While Logan’s priorities were his friends as he had demonstrated multiple times, that did not mean he didn’t feel guilty about what he was doing. The reminder of where they were going likely made him uncomfortable.

“You…” he said, unsure what he wanted to say. “You’re a good person, Logan,” he decided on.

Logan raised an eyebrow.

“Well, I mean, you’re an actual bastard sometimes,” Logan quirked a small smile at that quip, “but your hearts in the right place. You care for the people you love more than anything and that says a lot.”

“I do,” Logan agreed.

Roman kissed him on the nose, and he got another lip twitch in return. Roman felt a rush of affection so intense that he felt like his chest might cave in looking at him. “I love you,” fell out of his mouth.

Logan froze, his mouth popping open just a little bit.

Roman almost shoved his entire fist into his mouth. Why would he say that? You’d think he’d have learned from the disaster of a first kiss not to be so impulsive with that type of thing. “Well,” he said nervously. “That was really early and unplanned. Also, I don’t expect you to say anything like that back. In fact, I’d much prefer you didn’t anytime soon. At least not until the compulsion is gone.”

Logan made what may have been a laugh and may have been a weird choked exhale. “So, like the sex then? I should wait until this is all over to say if I love you or not?”

“Yeah,” Roman said. “Well, you still don’t have to say it even then if you don’t want to, but at least until then.”

“Alright,” Logan replied, a strange grin on his face. “Deal.”


	18. A Lock Inside a Circle

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm doing 2 today because I forgot yesterdays. So, make sure to read that one first.
> 
> Semi-explicit talk of sex in this chapter.

The next day was Logan and Roman’s day to search the clearing for the lock. Logan was, at this point, getting frustrated for many reasons. Most forefront in his mind was Roman’s vehement refusal to escalate their relationship until after they find the prince. As though that would be happening afterwards, Logan thought bitterly. If Roman wasn’t already planning on killing the prince when he found him, he probably would when he realized just how much trouble Logan had been for him. Or, at the very least, he’d never want to talk to Logan again, and why did that thought sting almost as much now? When had he gone from despising Roman to tolerating him enough to have sex with him? When had he started caring about his opinion of Logan?

_I love you_ reverberated in the space between them as they passed the key back and forth. Why did he have to say that and why did Logan want to believe him? It was so much easier when he was just an enemy. Now he was a friend and a… whatever it was when you were friends that kissed regularly. Now Logan cared and that made this worse.

Roman sighed and sat back on his knees with a frown. “That’s the whole square,” he said.

“Ugh,” Logan replied. That was the other major frustration. No one had found any sign of the lock and they’d been here for a month and a half. “How many squares are left?”

“Actually, none,” Roman said. Logan blinked at him and then thought back to the schedule. He’d been so distracted today that he hadn’t even noticed today should be the last possible day.

“How?” he asked, head in his hands. “How could we have missed it?”

“I don’t know,” Roman said.

Logan shoved himself to his feet and began to pace back and forth. “We have searched literally every inch of this circle,” he spat.

“We have,” Roman confirmed, still on his knees.

“So where is it?!” Logan asked. He moved over to kick the rock in the center, grinding his teeth together.

“Well, maybe we’re thinking about it wrong,” Roman suggested.

“How else are we supposed to think about it Roman?!”

Roman gave him an amused look, and he glared back. “Okay, okay,” he chuckled, hands in the air. “I’m just saying, let’s get another perspective on this.” He hopped to his feet himself and jumped up on top of the rock to survey the marked off circle. “Remind me of exactly what the clue said,” he requested.

“‘There is a rock with seven sides in the clearing where the tributary Atherna meets the Kilvary River,” Logan recited from memory. “This rock will have an image of the key sketched upon it. The lock is located somewhere in a 20-meter radius circle around the rock. Yet, the lock will not be identifiable as a lock until you press the key upon it. You will know it when you find it.’ But, how are we supposed to find it if we don’t know what it looks like?”

Roman was frowning down at the image of the key sketched on the rock to indicate it was the correct rock. “Stupid question,” he said, pointing at his feet. “Have we tried the rock?”

“…Oh, you’ve got to be kidding me.”

“I’ll take that as a no.”

“If it has been the stupid rock this entire time, I’m going to scream.”

Roman held out his hand for the key, and Logan passed it to him. He knelt down to press the key to the marking on the rock. The rock and key lit up with sparkling golden light. Roman looked at him. “Start screaming,” he said.

Logan just about did. He took a deep breath in as Roman got to his feet, a smug smirk dancing on his lips. “Don’t,” Logan warned.

“I didn’t say anything,” Roman said, even as his smirk grew.

“You…” Logan ground out, but he couldn’t help the smile that started to curl on his lips at how proud the other man looked with himself. With the goal to not get far too sentimental, he jerked forward to surprise him with a quick kiss. Yet, that strategy ended up having the opposite result as Roman grabbed him by the waist and lifted him up a bit, making the kiss last longer than Logan had intended. He spun a little bit with Logan in his arms, and it made Logan’s chest feel painfully warm. The laugh that left Roman’s lips when he drew back just made Logan’s predicament worse.

“I would like to argue,” Logan said, trying to subtly rub away the ache with a hand on his chest. “That solution is so stupid that only an idiot could figure it out.”

Roman gasped. “I have been wounded!” he said. “My honor has been destroyed by my own lover.”

Logan rolled his eyes and Roman leaned forward to peck him on the lips again. Logan pulled away suddenly a moment later and got a confused pout. “We should check the book!”

Roman smiled. “Go ahead,” he agreed.

Logan raced off to grab his bag and pulled out the book. He immediately froze. “It’s different,” he breathed looking at the cover.

“It changed color,” Roman said a bit awed, coming to kneel next to him. It had been a simple brown before, but now it was a mess of colors, mostly green, but with some of every other color as well.

“Not only that,” Logan said. “It has different symbols and writing all over it.”

He cracked open the book and found the first three sections were mostly the same content wise though some of the aesthetic details had changed. Yet, the fourth section which had been mostly blank was now filled with tight small writing. It may have even been a bit longer.

“Wow,” Logan said, touching the first page of the transformed section.

“That’s incredible,” Roman said, touching the page himself.

“I’m going to have to work to decode this before we can even start on the next stage of the journey.” It would take months at least. It almost felt like a gift from the universe: more time and a brand-new puzzle to work through before they could even start to find the doorway to the clearing.

“But for tonight,” Roman said with a smile. “We should celebrate.”

~

Janus met them on the path returning to camp, a weird expression on his face that gave Roman pause. Clearly, he had been intending to go get the two of them in the clearing.

“What?” Roman asked.

“You have a visitor,” Janus replied, a very specific grimace on his face.

Roman groaned, knowing exactly what that meant. “Great.”

“Who?” Logan asked curiously.

“My brother, Remus. I’ve mentioned him a few times.”

Logan nodded, looking curious. “And him coming to visit… is a bad thing?”

“My brother can be… a bit difficult. He’s got a good heart, but he likes to… play around with people. He doesn’t mean anything by it usually, but he can be…”

“A right bastard?” Janus offered.

“…Yeah,” Roman agreed. “Just do me a favor and don’t talk to him without someone else present.” Logan was smart and capable, but… to be honest, Remus would have a field day with him. The man still couldn’t always figure out when Janus was being sarcastic after over three months knowing him. Considering he was being sarcastic all of the time unless it was serious, Roman was pretty sure Remus’s manipulations would tie Logan up into confused knots.

“Okay,” Logan agreed, an eyebrow raised.

“Oh, Jaaaaaanuuuuus,” Remus’s booming voice called. Janus’s eyes slid shut as he sighed. “Where did you gooooo?” Remus came plodding into sight down the trail. “Oh, there you are!” he sidled up to Janus and threw his arm around him before smacking a kiss on his cheek.

Janus hissed and squirmed out of his arms. “Degenerate.”

Remus was already throwing himself at Roman the next moment, with enough force to bowl him over if he wasn’t already prepared for it. “Hey bro, still the ugly twin?”

“Go to hell,” Roman said mildly.

“Rude,” Remus pouted, releasing him. He turned to Logan who was watching the interactions with interest. Remus paused for a moment, seeming to study Logan. His eyes trailed up and down the man and Roman could see Logan smooth out his face in the way he always did when uncomfortable. “And you must be… Logan, was it?”

“Yes,” Logan confirmed.

Remus’s eyes flickered to Janus and then to Roman and then back to Logan. “I’ve heard a lot about you from Roman’s letters and from Janus this morning before he went and wiggled away from me,” he said, sticking out a hand for Logan to shake. “Remus.”

“It’s nice to meet you,” Logan said, shaking the hand. Remus held it for a bit too long, long enough that Logan’s eyes flickered to Roman though he didn’t react in any other way.

“Okay,” Roman said, pulling Remus away by the back of his shirt. “Now that we’ve all greeted each other, is there a reason you’re here, Remus?”

“Can’t I just come to visit my own brother? Can I not just hang out and have some fun?” he asked. He very specifically did not say anything that Janus could read as a lie or not. Huh. Roman eyed Remus.

Well, two birds with one stone. He gave a meaningful look to Janus. “Hey, Janus, why don’t you take Logan to go see Virgil?”

Janus’s eyes shot to Remus. “You know, I think that’s a good idea,” Janus agreed easily enough. “Come on, Logan,” he said, grabbing him by the shoulders and steering him back down the path towards camp.

Remus watched them go with a half-smile on his face that made Roman narrow his eyes at him. He smacked him on the shoulder and Remus turned back to him with a cheery look. “You fuck him?”

“No, I did not,” Roman gritted out.

“Hmm… can I fuck him?”

“No!”

“Aw… come on Ro Ro,” he whined. Janus and Logan had disappeared down the path by now, so Roman grabbed his brother’s arm and dragged him back towards camp. Remus wouldn’t shut up the entire time, and Roman ended up considering the benefits of slamming his own head against a tree verses slamming Remus’s head against one.

“He’s cute,” Remus was saying when they finally made it to Roman’s tent, “and I bet he’d be really good at taking d-”

“Just get in the tent, Remus,” Roman said, shoving him inside.

“Ooo, touchy,” Remus said. “So, you haven’t fucked him, but you want to fuck him.”

“Shut it,” Roman ordered and shoved him again for good measure. He went tumbling even though Roman hadn’t anywhere near shoved him hard enough for that and then sat cross legged on the ground. Roman sat down across from him. “What did you need to talk with me about that you didn’t want Janus to know about?” Roman asked.

Remus pressed his lips together, his demeanor changing suddenly to something more serious. “Aunt Cassia is dead,” he said. “She was assassinated two weeks ago.”

“What?!”

“Makes you second in line for a seat at the table,” Remus said.

“How did that happen?”

“Poison arrow, supposedly courtesy of Prijaznia,” Remus said.

“Why supposedly?”

“Because I went out and tracked the bastard down myself to get some answers.”

“Oh, Remus, you didn’t…”

“Look, I would’ve gladly left Auntie’s body for the rats and I did piss on her grave before I left, but family’s family. So, of course I tracked him down and shredded his ass.”

“And what did he say?” Roman asked.

“He didn’t have to say much of anything,” Remus said. “I knew him. Mocnejsi born and a close servant to the king.”

“But why?”

“There’s been some unrest in the North as of late, a bit of chafing between The Table and the king. My guess is the reason for the assassination was about you.”

“What do you mean?” Roman asked with a frown.

“Grandpa’s on the way out and Ma’s likely to pass on her seat with her leg problems. With Cassia gone, you’re probably going to be sitting on the table sooner than we ever thought and I think they want that. You’re young, young enough that you don’t remember much from before the alliance and they’ve treated you well. Your service to the king is well known. I think the goal is to get you at The Table so he can exert more control. I have a feeling he’s been doing similar things with other seats too; this is just the first time anyone’s caught him in the act.”

“Oh,” Roman said.

“You can choose to take it as a compliment or as an attack. I don’t care about all this political shit, but I wanted you to be able to make an informed decision going forward.”

“That’s…” Roman said. “That’s a lot.”

“Yeah,” Remus confirmed. “So, what are you thinking?”

“I’m not sure. I don’t know what actions we should take from here, but my allegiances are with my people, not with Mocnejsi. They always have been.”


	19. Arc 4: Interlocked | Chapter 19: Clasped Hands

Remus woke up early and glanced over at Janus. He’d been sure to keep the other man up late talking the night before. (Well… Remus had talked. Janus had curled up on his stomach and held a pillow over his head until he couldn’t stand it anymore and threw the pillow at Remus. Then he had just been curled up on his stomach because Remus refused to give the pillow back.) He wasn’t as used to running on little sleep as Remus so Remus figured exhausting him and sneaking out in the morning would be the most effective way to escape his babysitter. Quietly, so as not to wake up his brother appointed keeper, he hopped up and exited Janus’s tent. He glanced around at the waking camp, and his eyes landed on exactly who he’d been hoping to find: “Logan.”

Prince Thomas IV named after his father King Thomas the III who often went by his middle name “Logan” was currently peacefully snacking on his breakfast in the makeshift dining area in the middle of Roman’s camp.

Remus had seen a picture of the royal family only a couple of times over a decade ago. He hadn’t been involved in but had been around during the planning for the assassination of King Thomas. Said assassination had ultimately failed when the chosen assassin had went missing. They had presumed that he’d been found out and executed. Remus wasn’t quite so sure of that at the moment considering the rumors of ‘the beast’ around camp who apparently was friends with the prince and went by the same name as the aforementioned assassin.

Now, while Remus hadn’t seen the picture in a long time and the man had still been a teenager in it, Remus had a good memory and recognized him immediately. He had to admit, he was impressed. He’d been given a summary of the events that had transpired with his brother over the last few months and well… he was a tricky, tricky little prince. Tricky enough to string a web of falsehoods without a lie leaving his lips for Janus to detect. Now that was a feat.

Remus looked around one last time to make sure Roman wasn’t anywhere nearby and then waltzed over to him. He put on a sharp smile. “Good morning,” he said.

The prince looked up at him, wariness already in his eyes. He imagined Roman must have had a talk with the thing considering the vehement warning to stay away that Remus had gotten himself. “Greetings, Remus,” he said politely anyway.

“Do you mind if I sit?” Remus asked.

The prince looked up at him and his eyes sharpened. He sat up straighter and met Remus’s eyes. “Actually, yes I do. I’m not particularly in the mood for conversation, and I have been repeatedly told not to talk to you alone.” Interesting. Remus had assumed the court raised prince would be pinned in by social niceties and wouldn’t dare say no to that.

“Aw, can’t talk to little old Remus without a keeper?” he asked.

“Oh, I assure you I can, but I am not a fool enough to ignore warnings.”

“Oh, and what warnings would those be?” he asked.

“That you like to play games with people. Many of which could be interpreted as cruel, particularly if one is unused to them.”

“Oh, tricks,” Remus said. “Hmm. I didn’t think I was the trickster here.”

He looked up at him blankly.

“You’re royal highness.”

“I see,” he said calmer than Remus was hoping he would. He just set his breakfast aside. “How do you know?”

“Saw a picture of you once,” Remus replied, “and I have a good memory.”

“Ah,” he said. “I presume you plan to tell Roman then.”

“Oh, maybe,” Remus replied. “Maybe not.”

The prince tilted his head.

“Well like Ro-ro told you, I do like playing games.”

“I wonder why you believe I’d want to play one with you,” the prince said coolly.

“Oh, I don’t know,” Remus said, showing him his teeth in a cruel smirk and lowering his voice, “a chance maybe. Not a big one, I’ll admit, but if you were able to fool my brother this long, you must be pretty smart. At the very least it would be fun. For me. What do you say? Wanna be my latest toy Pretty-Pretty?”

He ground his teeth. “Fuck you,” he replied firmly.

“Oooo, kitty’s got claws,” Remus mocked. Then he smiled sharply as a certain someone popped out from behind a tent. “Hi Ro-Ro.”

The prince went still at his words. Roman was shooting Remus an incredibly suspicious look as he approached from behind the prince. “What are we talking about?” he asked.

“Oh, nothing at all,” Remus promised, gleefully drawing his eyes over the prince’s tense frame.

The prince met his eyes with a frosty glare, and he opened his mouth. “We were just discussing the fact that I’m the prince,” he said without any emotion at all.

Remus blinked in surprise and there was a long moment of silence.

“What?” Roman finally said.

The prince met Remus’s eyes head on. “I reiterate. Fuck. You.”

Remus whistled long and low. “I changed my mind,” he said. “Yesterday I asked if I could fuck him, but now I want _him_ to fuck _me_ since he clearly has the bigger dick.”

“I…what?” Roman asked, confused.

“Oh, don’t you get it, bro?” Remus asked. “Boy toy over here has been playing you the fool the entire time. He’s been leading you on this long arduous journey under the guise of searching for the prince, but it was all a barefaced lie. The prince was right here under your nose this entire time. He is the prince.”

Roman turned to the prince, though all he could see was the back of his head. “Is that? Is that true?” he asked.

The prince nodded stiffly.

“You-you lied?” He actually looked a bit hurt by it, but he more just looked confused. “Wait, how did you lie?!”

“I didn’t lie,” the prince returned calmly, still not turning to face Roman. His eyes stared resolutely into the distance. “At least not literally. Not one falsehood left my lips. I told you I would lead you to the prince’s location and that you could have him in exchange for the lives of my traveling companions. There was no point in which I told you the prince was at the location my book leads. You came to that conclusion on your own. I have never left your side since the deal was made, therefore, I have held up my end of the bargain. You cannot blame me for attempting to delay my own torture and execution, can you?”

There was silence once again. And gee, Remus thought in it, what a guy.

~

Logan sat crisscross on his bedroll in Roman’s tent, using most of his focus to keep his face a mask of indifference. Everything was fine. Well, it wasn’t fine. Everything hurt in ways he hadn’t anticipated, and he felt like he might throw up, but this situation was to be expected. He’d lasted almost three and a half months, and he likely would have lasted longer if not for the unforeseen variable of Remus. He’d done well in his game to stall the inevitable, but now it was finished. Surely it was the right decision in the end to tell Roman. It was better to be at his mercy than at Remus’s from what he’d been told. Roman would at least not drag this out.

Logan glanced up at Roman who was currently pacing back and forth in front of him. He’d dragged both Remus and Logan into his tent and sent for Janus. Roman was agitated, clearly confused and angry as he strode back and forth. Remus was standing by the entrance of the tent with his arms crossed in front of him. He did not seem upset that his manipulation had failed, in fact, he seemed delighted. He kept looking between his brother and Logan as though watching a particularly engaging sports game.

Janus came into the tent looking slightly ruffled. His eyes caught on Remus immediately and they darkened. “What did you do?”

“Believe it or not,” Remus said cheerfully. “I’m not the one in trouble right now.”

Roman paused in his pacing to point at him. “Oh, you still are in trouble, but I’m dealing with you later.” The addressed man just shrugged.

“Then what do you need if it’s not related to failed babysitting ventures?” Janus asked Roman.

Roman looked over at Logan and Logan was sure to meet his gaze head on. “Tell him what you told me.”

Ah. That’s what this was. He wanted to make sure Logan wasn’t lying about this before moving forward. It was an intelligent move, if unnecessary. Logan turned to Janus. “I’m the prince,” he said.

Janus froze, staring at him in confusion as the truth of the words processed. “How?” he finally asked.

“You never asked,” Logan explained, “and I never volunteered the information.”

“But you made a deal,” Janus said. “How could you have made that deal if you are the prince.”

“I was careful with my wording,” Logan said. “I told Roman I would take him to where the prince was hiding, we just happened to already be there. I agreed to let you capture the prince without resistance and I haven’t tried to leave since. I never said we needed to use the Pragilium text to find the prince. I just heavily implied it and let you fill in the details.” He looked away from him. “People are easily manipulated especially when they think the only lies are ones of commission.”

There was silence.

“So, he’s telling the truth then?” Roman asked.

“Yes,” Janus said. “But I don’t…”

“It’s him,” Remus offered. “I saw the prince’s picture once. He’s easy to recognize even without the fancy robes and with the addition of dirt.”

Roman turned back to look at Logan. “So, what?” he asked. “You spent months leading us on a wild goose chase?”

“There were no gee-”

“An aimless venture,” Janus interrupted.

“Ah,” Logan replied. “Yes, I did. At least, it was aimless to you. I have to admit that my own desire to make it to my destination made the web of falsehoods easier to weave.”

“A master of double meaning and loopholes, but ‘goose chase’ gets him, huh?” Janus mumbled. Roman glared at him and he shrugged unapologetically.

“Well I like him. Not only because he’s a lying, two-faced, master of manipulations, which you know…hot, but also because he’s got balls. Like, seriously Ro, you’ve gotta know how big his dick is at this point after all those hot make out sessions I’ve heard so much about. Please tell me.”

“You told him about that?” Logan asked.

“What?” Roman squeaked. “No!”

“Well I _certainly_ did.” Janus said.

“The inflection of your voice indicates that is a lie,” Logan said “but then how does he know? I only told you and Virgil.”

“It’s a twin thing,” Remus said.

Logan squinted at him.

“And,” Janus said with an eyeroll. “I’m certain _no one_ else in camp has figured it out. Considering how often the two of you _don’t_ sneak off alone. There have not been _any_ betting pools about _anything_ having to do with your relationship.”

“Ooo, who should I talk to about getting in on that?” Remus asked.

“Well I’m certain Isla wouldn’t know what you’re talking about,” Janus said.

“Everyone just shut up for a minute!” Roman finally exclaimed. “I need to think.” They all did, even Remus. Roman started up his pacing again back and forth along the length of the tent. Logan watched him silently. He was honestly surprised Roman was taking this much time to get on with it. It was the responsible thing to do of course, but it was still starting to grate on Logan. The steel resolve he’d gathered when faced with the decision to give into his death or let Remus toy with him was starting to flag. It was bound to leave a chasm of fear in its wake. “And you!” Roman spun on Logan suddenly and pointed an accusing finger at him. “Stop thinking I’m going to kill you.”

Logan blinked up at him. “Are you not?” he asked.

“Clearly not,” Roman said, throwing out his arms.

“Why not?”

“I don’t know, Logan,” Roman said. “Maybe I don’t want everyone in the betting pool to lose their money.”

“…What?”

“Truly,” Janus commented. “I am unsurprised that I was fooled so completely by someone so astute.”

Logan peered at him. “I am missing an emotional complexity,” he concluded. “What emotional complexity compels you to spare my life?”

“…Remus,” Roman said. “Remember that time you knocked me unconscious with a stick?”

“No, Remus,” Janus said firmly when Roman’s brother lit up at the implication.

“Your brother hit you with a stick?” Logan asked.

“He deserved it,” Remus replied, “because he’s a little bitch.”

“You know.” Roman pinched the bridge of his nose. “You are not contributing anything constructive to this conversation. Janus, would you please get him out of here?”

“Should I gag him and tie him to a tree too?”

“Please do,” both Remus and Roman said at the same time. Roman flashed him a disgusted look.

“Come on, idiot,” Janus said, face pinched before shoving him towards the entrance of the tent.

“He’s been giving me migraines since the womb,” Roman muttered before turning back to Logan.

“What are you going to do with me if you don’t plan to kill me?”

“God, I don’t know Logan. Can you give me five minutes of peace?”

There wasn’t even five seconds of silence before Logan opened his mouth again. “If you plan to turn me over to Mocnejsi king, you might as well kill me yourself.”

“Ugh, I’m not going to do that either.”

“Then what?” Logan asked. He didn’t like this, didn’t like not knowing his fate. It made his stomach clench uncomfortably. “You’ve been searching this whole time for the prince, and here I am. So, what are you going to do to me?”

“I don’t know, Logan,” Roman said. “Maybe nothing.”

“What do you mean nothing?”

“I mean, nothing,” he repeated. “Maybe I’m not going to do anything to you, have you thought about that?”

“Nothing?”

Roman threw up his hands and looked away.

“Why?” Logan asked. “I’m the person you’ve been searching for these last few months, and not only that, I lied to you and deceived you. I’m your enemy. Why wouldn’t you…”

“Why wouldn’t I?” Roman asked. “I don’t know, Logan,” he said. “Maybe it’s because I’m in love with you. Like I’ve already said.”

Logan went still. “You said that impulsively once while in a sexual situation with me and without full knowledge of my identity. Forgive me if I don’t hold that confession in high regard.”

“Well, I’m literally saying it again. So.”

Logan felt that like a spear to the heart and he couldn’t pinpoint why. How had that happened? Why had that happened? Why did Logan feel as though he could say it back and Janus would not read it as a lie? What did it mean if it were true on both ends? How should he respond? Should he request he think through it more? Should he return the sentiment? Should he explain all the ways it could go wrong? “But you don’t know me,” he finally settled on.

“Logan’s we’ve known each other for over three months.”

“I… but everything you know about me is a lie of omission!” Logan argued.

“Yes,” Roman agreed. “Intellectually, you have deceived me at every turn about everything, but emotionally? No offence Logan, but I’m pretty sure you’re not capable of it.” He bristled a bit. “So, yes, I meant it then and I mean it now. I’m in love with you. So, I’m doing nothing to you. Other than that, I don’t know what we’re supposed to do.”

“We?” Logan asked hesitantly.

“Well, we’re allies in this now, aren’t we?” Roman said.

“We are?”

“Don’t get me wrong,” Roman said. “I’m still pissed at the moment, but yeah.”

Logan thought for a moment and then nodded. “Okay.”

Roman tilted his head to the side with a brief smile and held out a hand. “Deal?” he asked.

Logan gave him a fond eyeroll and reached out to clasp his hand. “Deal.”


	20. Chapter 20: Unlocked Alliances

Roman pulled Logan to his feet by their clasped hands. The burning frustration over the three and a half months of dragging his troupe through dangerous and arduous tasks when unnecessary and the lung crushing fondness for the clever man in front of him wared in his mind. He wasn’t sure if the current urge to reach out to him was in the vein of throttling or kissing him. For now, he smothered both urges. There was something he needed to do first. Assuming, of course it was possible. Roman honestly didn’t know, and he was kicking himself once again for not asking more questions.

“We need Janus first,” he told Logan, pulling him from the tent. Logan followed behind him without resistance.

“What do we need Janus for?” he asked.

“We’re not going any farther without breaking the deal.”

Logan stopped him. “We don’t need Janus to break a deal,” he informed him.

“We don’t?” Roman asked, turning to him.

Logan sighed. “You really need to learn more about magical blood deals before you go about making them.” Roman just looked at him expectantly. “If we both consent to the deal being broke, it is quite the easy process. You kept the deal’s bead, didn’t you?”

“I did, yes,” he confirmed. “We need it?”

Logan nodded, so Roman led him over to one of the carriages and found a small hidden bag in the back of one of them. He pulled the bead out of it and showed it to Logan.

“Give it here,” Logan said. Roman handed it over without thought, and Logan placed it in the center of his palm. “Put your hand over mine on top of the bead and we crush it together.”

Roman placed his hand in the indicated position. “How do we crush it?” he asked.

“Just push,” Logan said.

“Isn’t it a little hard to break like that?”

“Isn’t a whirlpool dangerous?”

“…I get your point.” Roman pushed down with just barely any pressure and there was a loud crack that echoed through the camp like thunder. He pulled his hand away to see that the hard bead had cracked down the middle.

“Wow,” Roman said. “It’s actually kind of pretty.” The bead had been red before it cracked and it still was for the most part, but now there was black and white swirled together across the surface.

“And the deal is broken,” Logan said with a breath. There was a lightness to his posture that Roman didn’t think he’d ever seen before. Roman reached out and brushed a thumb across his cheek.

“I’m sorry for making that deal,” he said.

“To be fair, I was the one who suggested it,” he replied, “and perhaps a bit too quickly.”

“Hmm. You are pretty impulsive for a nerd.”

“It was still a rational decision at the time,” Logan insisted. “I was worried for my friends.” Roman felt himself drift a bit away from being frustrated with him and more towards being fond at that, and to think he’d once thought of him as a coward.

“You bartered your own life,” Roman said. He’d spent the entire time with Logan thinking he’d traded some third party’s life in the deal. He’d seen it as a selfish act to save himself and then as a choice to protect those few he held dear. Yet, it was something else. “That was an incredibly brave thing to do.”

“It was logical,” Logan replied. “I was at risk either way. This way, I was the only one at risk. It also gave my people a tactical advantage as my companions would be able to inform my father of the situation and prevent further casualties.”

“You must have been scared.”

“I don’t get scared,” he insisted.

“You do,” he said. “Though you’re very good at hiding it, I’ll give you that.” He paused. “I’m sorry that I made it worse, especially at the beginning.”

“We were enemies,” Logan said with a shrug.

“But we aren’t now,” Roman said. “I’d like to make up for my behavior towards you during that time. If that is at all possible.”

“Should I have you tied up again?” Logan asked.

Roman felt all of his blood rush to his face. “I…” he coughed.

Logan looked at him curiously.

“Is that,” he coughed. “A serious thing, a joke thing, or an other thing?”

“Other thing?”

“…Never mind.”

Logan squinted at him. “Like a se-”

“I said never mind!”

Logan chuckled softly. “Well, we should talk about other things at some point in the future,” he said.

“Looking forward to it,” Roman said, “but for now we have more concerning topics to discuss.”

“Ah, yes,” Logan agreed. “Where should we begin?”

Roman sighed, already dreading what they’d have to do. “Well, we will need multiple trusted opinions on how to move forward from here,” he said. “So, the first step will be how to convince Virgil not to murder me on sight once we release him.”

“We’re letting Virgil go,” Logan said. It wasn’t quite a question, but it wasn’t quite a statement either. He smiled in that soft way that Roman had only seen when he was thinking of his friends. It was amazing that Roman had ever thought he was emotionless.

“An ally of yours is an ally of mine,” Roman said.

“Though convincing Virgil of that fact may take a bit of work,” Logan said. “He once held a grudge against a pumpkin for being too round for a week.”

Roman gave him a confused look. “Why?”

“It was something about it being too perfect and so obvious a plant. Patton’s puns about plants did not help the situation. We ended up letting Virgil throw it out a tower window in the castle, so he’d sleep instead of doing reconnaissance during the night. It was perhaps not the best decision to feed into his paranoia, but it brought him a measure of peace for a while.”

“The Mocnejsi army really screwed him up, huh?” Roman asked with a frown.

“It did,” Logan agreed, but seemed to shrug it off easier than Roman was. “Hopefully, I can convince him not to throw you out of a tower.”

“Hopefully,” Roman echoed.

~

Janus managed to catch Logan’s eye as he and Roman walked in the direction of Virgil’s tent and chose to follow after them. He knew what had just transpired. He’d heard the pop of the bead being cracked and had felt a slight sizzle across his skin; the deal had been broken.

Janus was a bit surprised knowing that Logan was the prince now. Even if Roman clearly had forged an emotional connection to him, it was still a complicated situation and Janus had expected him to take longer than that to come to a decision regarding him. Of course, this was Roman he was talking about. Roman often acted on impulse and, really, was Janus shocked? This was the man who seemed to forget Janus was a multrum at every turn. It was still strange for Janus to be treated as just another person under Roman’s command and more than that, as a friend instead of as a tool to be used.

Janus wasn’t quite sure what would be happening next, but he was glad Logan was no longer deal bound… even if his true identity posed a number of potential problems.

Janus thought he’d managed to lose Remus by suggesting he teach Iris and Theo to fish while they waited for Roman and Logan to figure things out, but apparently not, as he sidled up next to Janus. He’d probably been called by the sound of the deal breaking. He was one of the few in the camp who would actually know what that meant. Even those in the troupe that had joined the army before Roman was made a general likely didn’t see many blood deals. Only people of high status were gifted with a multrum.

“So, are you freeing the beast?” Janus asked when he caught up to Roman and Logan.

“Logan’s going to barter for my life,” Roman informed him.

“Ah, a difficult negotiation. What’s the upper limit on being stabbed that you’re willing to tolerate?”

Roman sent him a glare, but Logan ignored them as they arrived at the tent. He quickly stepped inside. Virgil looked up at them and immediately sent a hot glare in Roman’s direction. Logan sighed fondly before stepping over to kneel in front of him.

Virgil wasn’t looking at him but was still eyeing Roman with disdain. Logan gently took his face in his hands to make him look at him. “You can’t kill Roman,” Logan started.

“Give me 5 minutes and thumb sized rock,” Virgil grumbled back.

“No, Virgil,” Logan said. “I don’t want you to kill him.” The statement rang true in Janus’s ears though that was no surprise. He didn’t particularly need his powers to be able to tell that. Virgil, however, did not seem at all convinced of this course of inaction. Logan could obviously tell that Virgil was nowhere near in agreement, so he reached into his pocket and pulled out the bead stored there. He held it up for Virgil to see.

Virgil definitely knew what that meant. While he was never high ranking, unlike most of the members of Roman’s troupe, he was not kept away from the seedier parts of the Mocnejsi army. It was quite the opposite in fact. The strategy for training child assassins in the army was to blood bound them to complete the assigned killings for the first few years. Janus had been assigned to the woman Virgil reported to and as such had been the multrum used for many of these instances until Virgil had turned 14 and was deemed old enough to kill on his own. Janus wondered if that was part of the reason Virgil’s hate for Roman was so strong.

Virgil looked at the bead for a long time, his face unreadable. “For real?” he asked.

“Yes,” Logan confirmed. “I’m going to let you lose, but you can’t hurt him.”

Virgil’s eyes looked between Roman and Logan for a moment. “And how’d you convince him of that?” he finally asked.

“It was less me convincing him and more him learning the truth and deciding for himself.”

“The truth?” Virgil asked with a slight head tilt.

“He knows I’m the prince,” Logan informed him. “It’s okay.”

“He knows you’re the prince,” Virgil echoed, “and he’s suddenly just okay with that? He’s been trying to track you down for months, and he what? He realizes he already has you and decides to let you go?”

“I can’t say that I understand it either,” Logan admitted, “but it’s what happened.”

“The idiot fell in love,” Janus offered in explanation.

“Oh, really,” Virgil asked skeptically.

“It wouldn’t be the first time I convinced an enemy agent to switch sides for me,” Logan pointed out.

“That’s different. I was 14, and not some fancy general.”

“Semantics,” Logan said with a shrug. “The results are the same. We have a new ally and I’d like you not to kill him.”

Virgil took a long time to consider the request. “Fine,” he said, looking pained by the concession. “I won’t kill him.” He turned to look at Roman. “For now, at least.”

Logan smiled looking relieved and reached to start to undo his bounds. Virgil rubbed his arms and shook his shoulders experimentally once he was free. Then, he wrapped his arms around Logan and pulled him into a hug. He glared over the prince’s shoulders at the rest of them, a low sound grumbling out of him.

Logan drew back with an amused snort. “Are you growling at them?” he asked.

“I would never,” Virgil insisted.

Logan seemed more familiar with Virgil’s brand of sarcasm than most because he just rolled his eyes. “Be nice,” he said. “Roman specifically asked that we get your position on our next step because, as my friend, he considers you an ally.”

Virgil looked over at Roman dubiously but didn’t comment. “What type of next step?” he asked.

“His decision to not turn me in has put him at odds with the Mocnejsi kingdom. We have decided personally to be allies, but there are many political consequences of that. We need to decide what our plan going forward is.”


	21. Chapter 21: Prospective Wedlock

Logan still didn’t quite get Remus. One moment he was an agent of chaos and the next he could get deathly serious. Logan and Roman’s makeshift council consisted of Janus, Virgil, and Remus. Logan was surprised considering the few interactions he’d had with the last man that Remus was a useful contributor to the group discussion. The man was brimming with dark and lewd remarks that made Logan wince and made Virgil defensive, yet Logan could tell there was a bit more behind all of that. He was intelligent and tactical. He easily called out flaws in their suggestions by looking at them from angles the rest of them didn’t consider. Logan also had a feeling that he was more attuned to people’s emotions than most would assume at first glance. He just didn’t always seem to care. In fact, he might understand people more than even Roman. He was good at cutting through brewing arguments between Roman and Virgil before they came to a head. (Though, this was often achieved by refocusing their ire towards him.) He managed to wiggle under Janus’s skin in a way that Logan hadn’t seen while also managing to keep Janus obviously endeared to him, likely through the well-placed truths and lies he told him to emphasize his affection for the multrum. Also, after their first conversation, Remus seemed to genuinely respect Logan… in his own way. Of course, that respect often came in the form of explicit comments about Logan’s genitalia, but it was respect all the same. At times he seemed to understand what everyone was thinking better than the people themselves did, including Logan. Which is why, when he made the suggestion, Logan paused to consider it.

Roman was sputtering, red in the face, and Janus was rolling his eyes in exasperation. Virgil looked like he was debating whether the better option was to curl up into a ball or commit homicide. Yet, Logan considered it.

“He might actually be on to something.”

“What?” both Roman and Virgil asked at the same time in the same tone. They shot unhappy glances at one another, discontent to be in agreement on anything.

“Well,” Logan said. “Not exactly the public sexual ritual in front of our ‘tribes’ as he suggested, but a similar arrangement could be considered.”

Remus seemed delighted by the fact that he was entertaining even part of his suggestion whereas the others just seemed speechless.

“Fantastic,” Janus drawled, after a moment. “An idea derived from one of Remus’s ideas. I’m sure that will not end in disaster.”

Logan ignored him, off in thought. “Yes,” he finally concluded. “I believe that is the optimal solution for all parties involved.”

“Want to share with the class, Lo?” Virgil asked, clearly still skeptical.

“The solution to our situation is obviously a political marriage.”

Roman sputtered immediately. “A what?”

“Well, it would make sense,” Logan went on to explain, “I’m the heir to my kingdom’s throne and you’re in line for a place of leadership in your home country. If the alliance between The North and Mocnejsi is truly as strained as Remus has described, it could provide an out for your people. A marriage between us could create a mutually beneficial alliance between our two nations. Prijaznia could provide defense from any retaliation the Mocnejsi king might enact on The North if the alliance is broken, giving them the option to withdraw. Long term, The North would prove to be a useful ally for Prijaznia and cut Mocnejsi off from supplies. It might also inspire other nations to attempt to remove themselves from the alliance with Mocnejsi.” He paused. “It makes sense.”

Roman was looking at him strangely.

“Of course,” Logan conceded. “There is always the possibility of The North rejecting such an offer, but I am certain that I can at least convince my father of the validity of the idea.” Roman had not stopped looking at him with that weird expression on his face. “What?” Logan asked with a frown.

“Hold on a second,” Roman said. “Did you just propose to me?”

“Yes,” Logan said. “It would be a logical political maneuver. There is a long history of such strategies producing fruitful alliances between nations. I am sure it could work out well in this situation as well.”

There was dead silence, and Logan frowned. It was a good suggestion, why was Roman wearing an expression as though he’d just kicked a small animal.

After a moment, Virgil groaned. “Oh god,” he said, rubbing his forehead as though he had a headache. “I can’t believe I’m helping this along, but Logan, I’ll remind you that emotions exist.”

Logan stared at him.

Virgil rolled his eyes. “You’re phrasing this in a very rational, detached way, and Roman is a very emotional and passionate person (no matter how much I hate him),” he slipped in that last part quickly while shooting a glare at the man. “Maybe try putting in some reasons you want to marry him that are not purely politically driven.”

Logan frowned and thought. “Well,” he said. “I had been expecting any marriage I might partake in to be politically driven, but it would be nice to have one that has a foundation of genuine affection.”

Virgil looked over at Roman. “I’d take it,” he advised. “It’s basically a Logan ‘I love you’.”

“Oh,” Logan said with a blink. “Was that not implicit in the suggestion?”

“God, I miss Patton,” Virgil grumbled. “I cannot be the emotional translator. It doesn’t work.”

“Clearly the political marriage is simply a constructed justification for the desired outcome,” Logan insisted. He looked around at all of their faces. Remus snort laughed. “Ah,” he said. “I see. It was not clear.”

“Not exactly,” Roman squeaked.

“Apologies,” Logan said. “Roman, I love you and I would like to marry you for primarily emotional reasons and secondarily political reasons.”

“Co-ol,” Roman choked.

Logan felt a suddenly uncomfortable discontent feeling at the non-response. He thought Roman must have noticed because he suddenly sat up straighter.

“Logan and I need to talk,” he told the rest of their group. Logan allowed him to grab his hand and he was quickly pulled to his feet. “We’ll be back… later,” he said. He pulled Logan from the tent and continued through the camp out into the surrounding forest. Roman didn’t let go of his hand, and Logan was content to be led. They walked for quite a while without speaking and soon Logan recognized that they were in the area of the cave they had visited before.

They made their way into the cave and sat next to the underground lake. Roman brought their joined hands up to kiss the back of Logan’s hand and then released him. He sighed. “We’re doing this all wrong,” he said quietly.

“So?” Logan asked. He did not see the issue.

“So, don’t you want this sort of thing to happen in a castle garden after years of courtship with a ring or something?” he asked.

“Not particularly,” Logan said with a shrug.

“But you’re a prince,” Roman said. “Don’t you want something better?”

Logan hummed. “Don’t you want this sort of thing to happen in a magical cave ¾th of a way through a harrowing adventure with the only promises necessary desperate I-love-you’s said during unplanned moments?”

Roman seemed to think about it and then cupped his cheek. “Oh, god, marry me,” he said.

Logan narrowed his eyes at him. “You don’t get a yes until I get a yes,” he said sullenly.

Roman chuckled and kissed him lightly. “Yes,” he breathed. “I have no idea how we’ll get it to work out, but yes.”

~

“Well, this isn’t awkward at all,” Janus said, breaking the silence. Roman and Logan had disappeared to go talk leaving Virgil with the lying bastard and the grosser Roman.

“It’s like a reunion!” Remus said, swinging an arm around Virgil. Virgil considered biting said arm off, and he was sure that fact showed on his face, but Remus just smiled at him. “Team General Landon is a bastard back in business!” Virgil felt himself wince at the name even after all these years. “So, Virgy,” Remus continued. “Last I heard, you were supposed to cut off the Prijaznia king’s head. We all assumed your dead body was being eaten by maggots, or at least that you were getting your skin peeled off layer by layer every few days. What gives?”

“Turns out Prijaznia isn’t too into torturing and killing children,” Virgil answered tightly.

“But still,” Remus said. “You ended up the prince’s lap dog. How’d they convince you of that?”

Virgil narrowed his eyes at the ‘lap dog’ comment, but still answered truthfully. “Honestly? Like two seconds of genuine kindness.”

“They can’t be that nice there?” Janus scoffed.

Virgil turned to him. “The guy who stopped my assassination attempt was feeding me cookies within an hour.”

“Poisoned cookies?” Remus asked. “Is that how they did it? Did they give you hallucinogenic cookies until you finally agreed to work for them.”

“No,” Virgil said, actually bristling a bit in Patton’s defense even though Remus didn’t even know whose morality he was insulting.

“Then how?” Remus asked.

“I was 14 and half starved. I wasn’t hard to convince.”

“And it was that easy to turn traitor?” Janus asked, his voice casual.

“Yes,” Virgil turned to look him in the eyes. “And rightfully so. You should know.”

Janus looked away.

“You should come back with us,” Virgil continued. “You’d have a much better life than,” he waved his hand through the air, “this.”

“I’m quite content with my life,” Janus said. Virgil did not have to have his powers to know it was a lie. “Besides, it’s well known that Prijaznia has no multrums. I’d likely be kicked out in a moment.”

“They do actually,” Virgil informed him. He’d been surprised himself having heard the same. “That’s propaganda. There aren’t as many in Prijaznia, but that’s just because they don’t literally breed them like cattle. The reason you’ve never seen them is because they’re not forced to serve the army. Those that do serve the crown are held in high regard, but many chose not to do so.”

“Oh, and you know some personally who just get to wander around doing what? Being bakers?” he asked skeptically. He obviously could hear the truth in what Virgil said, but Virgil could understand why he still would have trouble believing that. The two kingdoms were two different worlds for people like Janus and Virgil.

“Yes,” Virgil answered. “One was the castle’s head gardener before I was. He retired last year to go live with his grandchildren.”

Janus blinked at him, a pinched expression on his face, but he quickly schooled it when he noticed both Virgil and Remus were staring at him. Virgil wanted to push the topic more, but Janus abruptly got to his feet.

“I need to go check on the camp,” he said, striding out of tent without waiting for a response. Virgil frowned after him.

“So…” Remus said. “Tell me about the not poisonous cookie man that you got all defensive over.”

Virgil scowled at him. “Not a chance.”

“Ooo sounds juicy.”

“Don’t. Start.”

Remus grinned at him. “You’re a lot more fun now,” he said. Virgil took that as Remus’s way to say he seemed to be happier or at least less of a terrified child.

“Whatever,” Virgil said, standing up. “Since our meeting seems to be on an indefinite pause, I’m going to go grab some food.”

Remus also stood and stretched. “I’m going to go antagonize Janus some more,” Remus informed him.

“Don’t care,” Virgil said, turning his back on him and walking towards the food station. He wasn’t sure if he should smile at the soldiers or not as he walked past. Roman’s people seemed to like him for some reason which was strange because he’d smacked around a good half a dozen of them. Yet, the man who was the head chef, River, Virgil thought Logan had said once, smiled at him and got him something to eat when he asked.

He was halfway through eating his snack when he felt two pairs of eyes intently on him. They didn’t leave for a few good minutes, so Virgil finally turned to them with a sigh. It was the two younger one’s Virgil had noticed. He didn’t know their names, but he knew they tended to stick together, but often had another older member of the group nearby. “What?” he asked.

“Can you teach us how to use the Tiger Claw things?” the girl asked.

Virgil raised an eyebrow. “You mean my barbed knuckles?” he asked. “You literally just wear them and punch.

They just stared at him expectantly.

“Well I can’t really teach you since I don’t have them,” Virgil said innocently. “If you can get them for me, I’d be glad to show you how they work.”

They shared a glance. “I don’t know if we’re allowed to,” the boy said.

“Hmm,” Virgil said. “Well, Roman’s gone. Ask Remus if you can. He’s the general’s brother,” he suggested.

“Oh, okay,” the boy agreed easily, and Virgil resisted laughing. They obviously did not know much about Remus. “We’ll go do that.”

“Ask him if I can have a knife while you’re at it!” he said.

Remus, of course, was 100% down for arming Virgil with deadly weapons. He went digging through Roman’s stuff to find them and handed them over without complaint. Virgil then spent the rest of the evening slashing trees with his barbed knuckles for the kids’ entertainment.

Eventually, they drew bored and Virgil stored his weapons back on his person out of sight. It was just in time too because Roman and Logan wandered back into camp right around then and gathered the group back up.

“We’ve decided on the plan,” Logan announced.

“Does this plan still involve marriage and treason?” Janus asked idly.

“It does,” Roman confirmed, “but before we talk anymore about that.” He looked at Janus. “Janus, we are talking about going against your home country where you were born and raised. You have been a very good friend to me, and I have valued your input these last years, but I would understand if you want to part ways going forward. I will not try to stop you from leaving.”

Virgil looked over at Janus. Roman had phrased that carefully so that Janus would have no question about the truth of his words. He glanced around at the group of them, and when his eyes landed on Remus, Remus stuck his tongue out at him. That seemed to do it.

He made a show of rolling his eyes. “I’ll get right on taking you up on that offer, of course. It isn’t like the only people who ever treated me like a human being are in this tent.”

Roman smiled at him, and while Virgil still stubbornly refused to entertain the idea of liking the man, the way his stupid face lit up made Virgil soften just a bit towards him.

Virgil looked over at Janus and smirked. “I can get you a job in the garden.”

As anticipated, Janus’s face twisted up. “Ah, yes, the thing I most want to do with my life: get dirty every day planting flowers.”

“Well,” Logan said, “now that we’ve settled that, let’s discuss the plan. I’d appreciate if it didn’t leave this circle until morning.” Everyone nodded and Logan continued. “The plan for now is to head back to the castle as quickly and discreetly as possible, and I’ve planned out the best route to do so without tipping off any scouts from Mocnejsi or running into trouble with Prijaznia troupes. The trip will take about 8 days on the route we will take, but we will pause a half a day’s trip away and send Virgil ahead to the castle before following the next morning. So, the trip will actually take 9 days. You can warn the castle guards that we come in peace and not to attack as well as alert my father.”

“Oh, yeah, give me the fun job,” Virgil muttered. “Just so you know, I’m telling your dad you’re an idiot and taking none of the blame for this.”

The corners of Logan’s mouth twitched. “I would expect nothing less, but I implore you out of loyalty to me that you don’t broadcast your dislike of Roman as vehemently as I’m sure you will want to. At least not until after I’ve convinced the king not to arrest him outright.”

“Yeah, yeah, whatever,” Virgil agreed and then gave a mischievous look to Roman. “I’ll let your dad decide for himself if he’s going to take Roman to the guillotine.”

Roman shifted a bit nervously.

“Father won’t, Roman,” Logan said. “Virgil is just teasing.”

“If I actually wanted him dead, he would be already.”

Roman narrowed his eyes.

“I’d like to see y-” he started, and well, that was all the permission Virgil needed. He shot across the room and shoved him to his back, pressing his newly returned knife to his throat.

“Where did you even get a knife?” Roman asked, flabbergasted.

“Your brother,” Virgil answered.

“Remus!” Roman exclaimed.

“What?” Remus asked. “He wasn’t a prisoner anymore and he wanted one. How was I supposed to say no to our sexy little assassin?”

“Not even in your dreams,” Virgil said.

“Virgil get off,” Logan said tiredly. He did without argument, his point made and Roman sat up, glaring at him. “As I was saying, Virgil will go ahead and warn everyone. Roman and I will leave Janus and Remus behind with the troupes.”

“And Remus will not do anything stupid,” Roman said firmly.

“No, promises,” Remus sang.

“I’ll distract him,” Janus said.

“Oh, do tell,” Remus said with a wink.

“From there,” Logan talked over them. “I will work on convincing my father that I would like to marry Roman for emotional as well as political reasons. Knowing him, he will accept with some explanation. He may be a bit overbearing at the beginning, but he is a reasonable man and compassionate. I am sure he will accept our relationship and the proposed plan.”

“Translation, Roman will be fine, but Logan may end up in the dungeon for worrying him,” Virgil said.

“I am technically still grounded from allowing an assassin to live in my room for months without telling him,” Logan mused. “And yet, the assassin simply got a hug.”

Virgil shrugged unrepentantly.

“After that, we will re-evaluate with the counsel of my father and our advisors, but the plan for now is that Roman and I will eventually go to The North and attempt to get them to agree to an alliance. If that deal is rejected, Roman will ask for refuge for him and the members of his troupe that wish for it with my father. Either way, we plan to get married.”

“I wouldn’t be abandoning the North though,” Roman said. “We’d still work on convincing them and hopefully enough people would see it our way in time. I wouldn’t be abdicating willingly.”

“Sounds like a plan,” Remus said. “I’m in.”

“We will need to talk though some more details with the king,” Virgil said. “But it’s not the worst plan you two could come up with.”

“Turns out if you put two partial brain cells together,” Janus said. “They almost function like one.”

“Then we’re agreed,” Logan said. “We’ll move out in the morning.”


	22. Lock and Load

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> FYI this is the second chapter of the day.

The week of travel was strangely calm for where they were going and what they were doing. Roman was still taking his troupe deep into enemy territory even if he was currently engaged to the crowned prince of that territory. And wasn’t that still a wild thought. It would have been laughable a few months ago. Even now it was strange. He was set to meet the king of Prijaznia tomorrow.

They’d stopped early today, around lunch and sent Virgil ahead to warn the castle. He was likely almost there by now if not there already. Logan and Roman were set to follow him alone in the morning. Logan had seemed certain of his plan the entire trip, but now he seemed a bit nervous knowing Virgil was possibly informing the king of everything at this very moment.

“Tell me something about yourself,” Logan requested suddenly. They’d set up camp by a small pond about half a day’s trip from the castle. It was not nearly as strange and beautiful as the magical pond the key had been in, but it still gave Roman some nostalgia.

He reached out to take Logan’s hand. “What do you want to know?”

He apparently didn’t have a question in mind already because he had to pause to think. “Why did you join the army in the first place?” Logan asked. “Surely you didn’t have to given your position.”

“Hmm,” he considered. “It was a little after I turned 18. It seemed right. Traditionally men and women would spend a year or two in one’s sect’s militia once they became adults in The North. We’d joined with Mocnejsi a few years before I came of age and considering our alliance, it seemed natural for those of us who would normally be training at home to join up with their army. It was a good opportunity. It strengthened the alliance and made The North more valuable in it. Plus, the training was more formal. Of course, that had its drawbacks. It’s a different experience from what I understand. When my parents were young, it was more playing at war than anything. Most of the conflicts were between the 5 sects and read more like sibling disputes than actual war. There were rarely any deaths in those, and they were usually resolved by politics or occasionally a good wrestling match between champions. There were, of course, conflicts with outsiders that were bloodier, but still, I don’t think it was like this. I don’t think my people realize how different it is sometimes, myself included. They’ve been using that fact to manipulate us, haven’t they?”

“I’m not privy to the plans of the Mocnejsi royalty, but considering their current relationships with other “allies,” I would assume so,” Logan said. “Why did you stay so long then?” he asked. “You said most of your people usually stay only a year or two.”

“I don’t know,” Roman said. “Life up North is sometimes boring, and I wanted adventure and magic. Not to mention it gained The North some respect in the alliance we would otherwise not have. That blinded me to a lot of things. By the time I wanted to quit, I was being offered agency with a crew of my own people and free to do whatever I wanted as long as it met Mocnejsi’s aims. It seemed worth it to stay. I thought it was a sign of respect, them letting me do that. I felt like staying strengthened the alliance and would be good for my people.” He paused. “With what I know now, I think they wanted to make me happy, so I’d do what they say when I ended up in power.”

Logan nodded, contemplative, but not judging.

“If I’d known I was up against someone as pretty as you, I would have deserted years ago,” Roman said fluttering his eyelashes.

Logan laughed and bumped shoulders with him. Roman looked over at him. “My turn,” Roman said. “Why the book? Sure, it was a good cover to keep us from the truth, but you do actually know it back to front. How’d that come about?”

“Ah,” he said. “I was six when my Pa, my other father died,” he explained. “It was… a difficult time for me.” Roman wondered if that was where his fear of loved ones dying came from. “I liked to hide away in different spots in the castle after that so no one could find me. I ended up in the library one day and found it. I was a good reader even then, but I couldn’t understand a word of it. It made me angry.” Roman imagined a little Logan glaring at a book of code and old languages with a huge pout on his face. “I could get an idea from the pictures what it was about, but I wanted to know more. It looked like an adventure on a page and I spent the rest of my youth studying everything I needed to read it because I had to know. It helped distract me and gave me something to look forward to in my grief. I managed to read it cover to cover multiple times, but every time I read it, I wanted more and more for the adventure to be off the page. I knew I couldn’t though. I have a responsibility to my people, and I can’t go gallivanting off on clearly dangerous missions. You were…” he thought for a moment. “an opportunity almost. I was a dead man and my duty to my people appeared over. I had done all I could to give them the best chance and I needed a distraction so… why not indulge? It was my dream to see if I could really solve the puzzles for real. I thought that I might as well accomplish as much as I could before the end. It was nice to see that all of those years of study really did something. I mean, we completed the third task in under four months. People have spent their whole lives not even figuring out where the mirror was. It was heartening to get that far.”

Roman brought a hand up to tilt his face towards him. “If this all works out and we get married,” he said. “That’ll be our first anniversary. That way you’ll have time to decipher the rest of the book.”

“Oh, I mean, I couldn’t. It’s too dangerous.”

“It sounds like the last task isn’t dangerous so much as difficult to reach. I’m sure your father wouldn’t mind. We already faced the danger with the first couple of tasks, right?”

“I…” he said. “Maybe.” Roman leaned forward to kiss him softly then.

“I love you,” Roman said.

“I love you too,” Logan said back, and Roman smiled at him. “Can I ask another question?” he asked. “It’s one that’s been bothering me for a while.”

“Sure,” Roman said easily.

“What was in the mirror?”

Roman froze.

“Roman?”

“There’s a reason I didn’t tell you,” Roman said.

Logan narrowed his eyes. “Tell me now,” he demanded looking very princely.

“It was what I’m pretty sure is your worst nightmare.”

“What do you mean?”

“I knew who Virgil was the moment I met him, because I saw him there.”

“He was dead,” Logan concluded.

“In a lot of different ways. And not just him.”

“Is that why you wouldn’t speak to me after the first task?”

“Yes,” Roman confirmed.

Logan nodded and looked contemplative. Then he leaned forward to kiss him on the cheek. “I appreciate your consideration for my emotions, but never do that again.”

Roman’s lips twitched. “Yes, your majesty.”

“Also, you’re going to talk to someone about it when everything calms down.”

“Fair enough,” Roman agreed.

~

Patton gave King Thomas a flickering smile as he set a cup of tea in front of him and got a similarly weak smile back. The kitchen staff had mostly retired for the night though Mama’s quarters were nearby in case anyone needed anything in the middle of the night, so it was just Patton and the king. The king looked exhausted in every possible way not that Patton was faring much better. This was not the first night they’d found themselves together like this in the last few months, and they’d be sitting together late into the night if the pattern held.

Patton grabbed the plate of cookies that had been waiting for them on the counter and then sat down. Mama had been keeping both of their favorite cookies constantly in supply. Patton’s eyes passed over the options. He chose a snickerdoodle. Thomas gave him a sad look and reached for one of the mint chocolate chip ones himself.

Patton was just about to pick up another cookie when he heard the door to the outside start to open. He was on his feet before the person behind the door was even revealed. “Virgil!” he said, flinging himself across the room into his arms the second he saw him. Virgil made a little surprised exhale when Patton rammed into him, but arms came up automatically to squeeze him back. A gentle kiss was pressed to the top of Patton’s head.

“Hey, Pat,” he said softly into Patton’s hair.

“Are you okay?” he asked, pulling away from the hug. He reached up to cup Virgil’s cheeks in his hands and Virgil let him search for any pain or distress on his face. “You’ve been gone for so long. I’ve been so worried.”

“I’m fine,” he said, pressing a quick kiss to his lips. “I promise. I’m sorry for worrying you.”

“Virgil,” Thomas said, and Patton watched Virgil go tense, his eyes flickering to the king as he pulled slightly away. He opened his mouth, but before he could stutter through whatever he was planning to say, Thomas had crossed the room and pulled him into a hug.

Virgil stayed tense for a moment, still somehow surprised even after all these years. Then he relaxed. His shoulders drooped, and he hugged Thomas back. He buried his face into the soft robe that the king wore over his night clothes with a sigh.

Thomas drew away after a moment and tilted Virgil’s face up, eyes scrutinizing Virgil for any sign of injury as well.

“Here, sit,” the king said gently, pulling him towards the table. “Patton and I were having some cookies and I’m sure you’re hungry and tired.”

“I’ll make you tea,” Patton offered. His fingers reached out to touch Virgil’s shoulder before he went to the kettle.

Virgil was led to the table and sat. Thomas pushed over the plate of cookies and Virgil grabbed one with a nod of thanks, starting to nibble on it. The kettle was already warm, and Patton was able to quickly make a cup of tea for him.

Virgil set down his half-eaten cookie when Patton returned to the table. He bit his lip nervously as he looked between them. “I was… actually hoping to be able to talk this through with Patton before I came and saw you,” he admitted to the king.

“You didn’t find him,” Thomas said, sadly.

“No, no!” Virgil blurted, panic in his eyes. Both Thomas and Patton flinched in surprise at his sudden volume. Virgil coughed awkwardly. “He’s fine, actually. I did find him, and he’s fine.”

There was a moment where Patton and, he assumed, King Thomas, did their best to take that in. “Then where is he?” the king asked confused.

“Only about half a day’s travel away. They sent me ahead to explain.”

“They?” Thomas asked.

Virgil chewed at his lip a bit more. “Well, you know what happened with the enemy general and the deal.” Thomas nodded, looking away. “There’s been some… developments.”

“What developments?” Patton asked.

“Well… um,” Virgil coughed. “You see. First, of all, your child is going to be the death of me. He… sort of… well.”

“Virge,” Patton said a bit sharply. They would be here all night if they let him get lost in his anxious ramblings about nothing.

“Logan seduced the commander,” Virgil blurted. Patton squinted at him in confusion. “Or the commander seduced him, maybe?” he went on to say. “I don’t know. I didn’t see a lot of it, but they’re both thoroughly seduced. The general, Roman, figured out who he was and then broke the deal off. Also, there was a marriage proposal.”

“… _What?_ ” the king asked.

“Look I’m not here to explain the plan Logan concocted. I’m just here to say don’t murder the enemy solider coming in with Logan tomorrow. But, basically Roman is in line for some sort of leadership in The North and they want to propose a political marriage between the two of them to make an alliance between Prijaznia and The North. Of course, that’ll take a vote at the table. So, if it doesn’t go through, Roman wants to ask for refugee status for him and his soldiers and then they still want to get married. The point seemed to be they want to get married.”

Patton thought back to the last time he’d seen Logan and this Roman. The general had been scary, and Logan had been so cold that Patton knew he must have been terrified. “How did that happen?”

“Look,” Virgil said. “I honestly am not sure. One minute I’m a captive after trying to invade their camp, a well-treated captive,” he rushed to assure when he doubtlessly saw the look that crossed Patton’s face, “and the next thing I know, I’m untied, the deal’s broken, they’re planning a coup, and Logan’s proposing.”

“So, he’s fine?” Thomas asked quietly.

“Yeah,” Virgil replied. “He’ll be home tomorrow. With Roman.”

The king nodded, and he looked like he might cry. “Why don’t you get some sleep, Virge?” he suggested. “Then when you wake, maybe you can go meet up with them and bring them back.”

Virgil nodded in agreement and Thomas turned to leave. “You will hear them out, right?” Virgil asked, and Patton noted the slightest bit of genuine concern in his tone. Up to that point he had simply been informing them of what happened and if anything, he had seemed disgruntled by the proceedings, but now there was a bit of something else on his face. “I know it’s been a whole thing and you’re probably pretty worried and frustrated, but I honestly do think it will hurt Logan if you don’t hear him out.”

“I’ll hear them out,” the king replied without turning around. Then he was gone.

Patton reached over to touch Virgil’s shoulder. “It will be fine,” he promised. Virgil may still look slightly anxious, but for Patton, it was the first time in months he actually felt like that might be true. “Why don’t we go to bed?”

Virgil groaned lightly. “Have I ever told you how much I love beds?”

A smile pulled at Patton’s lips and he stood up to offer Virgil his hand. “You may have mentioned it once or twice.”

Virgil hummed and let himself be pulled to his feet. He gave Patton a soft look. “You haven’t been sleeping, have you?” he asked, knowingly.

“How could I have been?” Patton asked.

Virgil leaned forward to kiss him on the cheek. “Let’s head to bed.”


	23. Deadlock Hug

The next morning, Logan and Roman left Roman’s soldiers (and his brother) in the capable hands of Janus to head to the castle. Though Logan rarely left the castle as much as he would have liked, their surroundings quickly became slightly familiar. He was… unsure why he felt so nervous. He knew his father. He was more than a reasonable man and it wasn’t as though they would be surprising him out of nowhere. He was sure Virgil smoothed it over despite the lingering resentment he still held towards Roman.

It was silly, but he was beginning to believe that the anxiety could be attributed to the fact that he was bringing a boy home to his dad. Perhaps with the heightened stress of the circumstances it was understandable, but his irrational emotions were still bothersome.

Roman reached over and interlocked their fingers. Logan squeezed his hand back. “I thought you said this wouldn’t be an issue,” he said.

“It won’t be,” Logan reassured. “I am being ridiculous.” There were many emotions associated with just walking down this path towards the caste, let alone with Roman. Only two weeks ago he’d doubted he’d ever see these woods again. Two weeks ago, he’d assumed that the affection Roman had shown him would evaporate once he found out who Logan was, but he had proven him wrong. Now he was introducing him to his father. A father whom he had also thought he’d never see again. It was… disconcerting.

“You aren’t being ridiculous,” Roman promised him. “A lot has happened. It makes sense to be nervous. Personally, I’m terrified.”

“Yes,” Logan said impatiently, “but you’re an enemy soldier who kidnapped the king’s son and fears being arrested if things go wrong. I’m his son and at worst will get grounded.”

“Well, getting grounded can be terrifying too. I got grounded so many times when I was younger.”

“Did you?” Logan asked, amused.

“It was always Remus’s fault,” Roman said. “He always has the worst ideas.”

“And yet, you go along with them?”

“They’re horrible, but fun, ideas.”

“I see,” Logan said with a laugh.

“Like once,” Roman said, “we had a pretty bad flooding season and Remus got the idea for ‘mud sledding.’ Unfortunately he had the bright idea to do said mud sledding on the hill where grandfathers favorite flowers grow…” Logan listened to him idly as he explained what exactly mud sledding was, how one wins (as apparently there was a winner in said activity), and the resulting punishment. It did make Logan feel just a bit better.

Yet, nothing could stop the stab of nervousness when he, with sudden clarity, knew exactly where he was. He recognized the little path they turned on from day trips when he was young and could suddenly feel in his bones the exact amount of time it would take to walk to the castle.

“Are you okay?” Roman asked.

“It will be fine,” Logan reassured himself.

“Want to take a 15-minute break to make-out just in case?” Roman asked.

Logan startled at the suggestion and then chuckled. “Perhaps,” he said.

“Please don’t,” a voice said from above them a moment before a body dropped down next to him. Roman shrieked and stumbled away, almost pulling Logan off his feet. Logan glared at him. He’d 100% done that on purpose in hopes of that exact reaction. “Aren’t you supposed to be a terrifying soldier?” Virgil taunted.

“You are a creepy cookie!” Roman spat. “You didn’t have to be in the tree. What? Did you climb it and wait for us to walk by so you could do that?”

Virgil rolled his eyes at him with a confirming smirk and Roman squawked.

“Well?” Logan asked.

“No one’s going to get murdered,” Virgil said, “at the gate at least.”

“ _Virgil._ ”

“They’re both rightfully confused and pissed, what do you want from me, Lo?”

Logan sighed. He guessed it wasn’t the worst welcome they could get.

“I was sent to bring you the rest of the way in, and don’t even think about asking if I’ll give you 10 minutes alone before we get there.”

Logan glared at him, and he pretended not to notice.

“Come on,” Virgil said. “Let’s get home so I can go back to my gardening. Lewis better not have destroyed my Zygopetalum Orchids. I left specific instructions, but they can be testy.”

Logan shook his head at him but didn’t argue. Virgil led the way, still mumbling about his plants, and Logan reached over to grab Roman’s hand again. He got a bestowed look back in response.

It took them an hour to get to the edge of the forest, and they walked down the path towards the castle for another 20 minutes before they came to the outer castle wall. Virgil waved at the guard on top and the doors to Logan’s home opened.

Standing on the other side of those doors was a figure that had obviously been waiting for them with his arms crossed. As soon as the doors were opened, he marched straight up to them. Virgil stepped quickly out of the way to allow him by, the traitor.

“Ah,” Logan said. “Good afternoon, Pa-” Patton slapped him across the face with, it seemed, every bit of force he could muster. “I deserved that,” Logan acknowledged evenly. The next moment, Patton had thrown his arms around him and was hugging him tightly.

“Never do something like that to me again,” he cried.

“I will endeavor to not do so,” Logan agreed easily, reaching up to pat him on the back of the head a few times. He squeezed harder for a long moment before drawing back and giving him a very familiar and meaningful pout. “I’m sorry, Patton,” Logan apologized.

The other man’s face cleared. “I’ll forgive you soon,” he said cheerily. “But Thomathy is going to ground you forever. You gave him a few hours to be relieved you were alive and then he remembered that you gave yourself up as a martyr.”

“Who is ‘Thomathy’?” Roman asked Virgil.

“The king,” Virgil answered.

“…He calls the king Thomathy?”

Patton turned to Roman. “I got confused when I was five and it stuck,” he explained with a smile. “Hello Roman.”

“Ah,” Roman said awkwardly. “Hello Patton. It is nice to meet you again under less tense circumstances. Sorry about that, by the way.”

Patton waved him off, “water under the bridge, kiddo.”

Roman blinked at him. “You’re rather forgiving,” he commented hesitantly.

“Luckily for you,” Virgil said, “Patton is quite forgiving of strangers.”

“And apparently, quite cruel to his friends,” Logan mumbled, rubbing his cheek where he’d been struck a few moments before.

“My friends know better,” Patton replied with a glare. Then he turned back to Roman. “But I’m always happy to make another one.” He stuck out his hand for Roman to shake. He did, still looking quite confused about the turn of events.

“Since I’m now your friend, I will do my best to never do anything to upset you again,” Roman promised.

Patton giggled at him. Well at least that dealt with the issue of if Patton would be willing to accept Roman. Logan was not particularly surprised about Patton’s easy acceptance even given the circumstances. Of course, he’d been the one Logan was least worried about.

Patton led the way to the throne room, his hand in Virgil’s cheerily swinging the dark brooding assassin’s hand back and forth. Roman focused on wondering how on Earth _that_ had happened instead of on the fact that he was about to meet the king of Prijaznia after having kidnapped his son. Of course, when he thought back to the first time he’d met Patton, he remembered that he wasn’t all sunshine and rainbows. There was a bit of steel behind the fluffy exterior he wore now. Then again, he remembered how Virgil had spent the last hour and a half of their walk fretting over the state of his flowers. So, he guessed maybe the two did make some sense.

The couple left Roman and Logan at the doors to the throne room. Virgil patted Logan on the shoulder as they walked away, leaving them alone. Logan turned to Roman and leaned forward to kiss him briefly.

“I love you,” Roman told him.

“I love you too,” he replied, and then turned to the doors with a slight wince. “Okay.” He slowly shoved one of the double doors open.

Roman had been in the throne room of the Mocnejsi king before and had figured it would be a similar situation in Prijaznia. He’d fully expected Logan’s father to be sitting prim and proper on a large ornate throne when they arrived, and there was a throne. However, while still fairly fancy, it was not nearly as large and adorned with expensive things as the one he’d seen in Mocnejsi’s throne room. Instead, it was just a slightly larger, decorated tastefully chair at the end of the room, and there was no king on it.

No, there was just a man standing in the middle of the room. He paused in the path he was cutting back and forth across the center of the room when the doors opened and turned to look at them. His clothing was clean and likely expensive, but not flamboyant. If his face was not one of the ones burned into his memory from the mirror realm, he would have assumed he was an important figure like the royal advisor waiting for them to arrive so he could go get the king for a dramatic entrance. However, he was not. That was Logan’s father.

He did not concern himself with Roman at all, not even to send him a shallow greeting or acknowledgement of his presence. He was solely focused on Logan and crossed the room in a few quick strides to engulf his son in a hug.

It was a surprise for Roman considering how much he’d built up the meeting of the king in his mind. He’d expected a cool façade and cutting words at best. Roman’s imagination had conjured the image of him sitting on his throne listening to the whole story with cold eyes before raining down his judgement. By the way Logan had spoken of convincing his father of their plan, he’d expected him to be calm and logical despite his anger. At worst, he’d expected him to be furious, and for him to seethe and refuse to listen for hours. By the way Virgil and Patton had talked about his unhappiness with Logan, he could have seen this quickly descending into a screaming match.

Yet, none of that is what happened. The king just held his son for a very long time like he was the most precious thing in the world. One of Logan’s worst nightmares was his father dead, and Roman could tell that the feeling was mutual. Roman already felt horrible for taking Logan away from his life; he had before even knowing who he was but watching the way Logan melted into the soft embrace, he suddenly felt even worse about taking him away from his family.

The king drew back after a few long moments only enough to press their foreheads together. “You are in so much trouble,” he told Logan.

“I know, dad,” Logan replied.

“Never do anything like that ever again,” he demanded. Logan did not reply, and the king frowned. “Logan,” he said.

“It was a logical move,” Logan argued.

The king drew back a bit more and, ah, there was the anger. Roman felt himself shrink in its presence even though, he noticed, that even in his anger, he didn’t quite let go of Logan nor did his touch harden in any way. “It was not,” the king argued back.

“Yes, it was,” Logan insisted, and Roman wasn’t sure if that was exactly true, but he held steadfast. “It was a calculated maneuver which minimized the damage to my party.”

“By sacrificing yourself!” the king said.

“Yes,” Logan agreed. “It was the correct thing to do.”

“It was not!”

“You are just being overly emotional about this.”

“I have the right to be emotional when my own son sacrifices himself as though it were nothing.”

“You are the king.”

“Don’t you dare use that line on me! I’m also a father.”

“My decision was objectively the correct political maneuver. It ended in no blood shed on either side and I made it home perfectly fine.”

It was interesting to note that while the argument crackled through the room like a blazing fire, and their voices bounced off the wall, they were still holding each other. It almost made the whole thing appear ridiculous.

“But you could have not,” the king argued back, eyes blazing. “You didn’t think you would.” Logan’s mouth became a tight line and he refused to contradict him. “You were lucky,” the king said. “You were stupid and reckless and lucky.”

“I would do it again,” Logan said stubbornly.

The king scowled darkly, but he still drew him into another hug before releasing him and taking a step back.

He finally turned to look at Roman. “And you?”

“Roman Arcadia of the North,” Roman replied.

“I know your name,” the king said.

“Ah… yes. You would,” Roman said awkwardly.

The king studied him for a long moment. “You brought him home. Thank you for that.”

“Well, yes but…”

“Oh,” the king said, his voice cool, and Roman could suddenly see Logan in his eyes. At least, the Logan from the first few weeks who could smooth his features into a calm that meant the exact opposite. “I am not thanking you for any of the rest, but there are thousands of different people you could have been, and I’m thankful you weren’t any of them.”

Roman nodded hesitantly.

“We will be having a much more in-depth discussion about my grievances with you as well as to discuss this plan I have been informed the two of you came up with. I will not be making any decisions until I understand everything that has happened in the last four months. For now, the two of you can rest from your travels and get cleaned up. We’ll discuss more after dinner. I had a room prepared for Roman.”

Both Roman and Logan nodded, not willing to argue with that. The king reached forward to give Logan another hug and kissed the top of his head before drawing away. He spared a nod for Roman and then called in some people to show him to his room.


	24. A Book in a Library

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Note, two chapters were posted in quick succession. Make sure to read the last chapter before this one.

Upon reflection, Thomas didn’t think he’d actually truly slept in the entire time Logan was missing. As such, he was almost late for the dinner he’d scheduled and only managed to make it there on time because Virgil had the forethought to swing by and wake him.

“So, no guillotine yet?” Virgil asked.

“We don’t have a guillotine,” Thomas answered with an amused head shake.

“A pity.”

Thomas rolled his eyes. He was clearly not being serious in his comment, but then he stopped Virgil with a hand on his shoulder. “Tell me the truth?”

Virgil sighed. “Logan seems serious, and he isn’t stupid… well, I mean he is stupid, no offence to your genes, but he’s not _stupid._ And Roman could be worse, though I implore you never to let him know I said such a thing. I honestly didn’t see much of him though and less of them together before a few days ago. Yet, it clearly had been developing before then.”

Thomas nodded, lost in thought. He was leery of this plan of theirs. On one hand, Roman had brought him back unharmed and Logan wasn’t one to make plans without thinking them through. On the other, Roman had kidnapped him, and Logan had shown himself willing to be a martyr. While a marriage did make sense politically, as a father he had his reservations. There were reasons to worry.

The two of them continued to the dining room. Everyone else had already arrived. Logan was sitting between Roman and Patton and appeared to be… pouting? Hmm, yes, that was a Logan pout certainly. He was unsure exactly what was being discussed, but knowing the expression on Patton’s face, he could guess they were lightly teasing Logan over his head.

The conversation ended when they realized that Thomas had entered the room. Patton turned to them with a smile and Virgil left Thomas’s side to join him. Roman went silent and folded his hands in his lap like he was a small child trying to behave. It very much contradicted the picture Thomas had built in his mind of him. Thomas walked over to take his seat opposite of Logan.

It was nice to have them all here, Thomas thought, even with the addition that made him apprehensive. Logan and Virgil had been missing from the castle for a while now and having them here was wonderful.

Roman seemed to be preparing himself to talk, but Thomas held up a hand. “We’ll talk after we eat,” he declared. No one argued and the meal was served a few minutes later. Thomas ate and used the opportunity to observe the extra person at the table. Roman and Logan did subtly angle themselves towards each other while they ate, though part of that may have been that Roman was angling himself away from Thomas.

They seemed to speak to one another easily enough, at least in the moments Roman forgot Thomas was there. Those moments became more and more frequent as Patton worked his magic on the table by asking all of the right questions. Thomas was reminded about why he’d accepted the proposal to make the cook’s son Logan’s royal advisor. He was good at the things Logan struggled with. He quickly got them talking about what they’d been doing the past few months, and both seemed strangely enthused about the topic which is when Thomas realized that something about what they’d been doing sounded familiar.

“You used your book?” Thomas asked suddenly.

“Oh,” Logan said. “Yes. We actually managed to get all the way through the third task and find the lock. We hadn’t had a chance to start on finding the door, but it would have likely taken a lot more time anyway. At least a few months if not longer.”

Roman seemed to forget his bashfulness now that this subject had been brought up. “The book completely changed when we found the lock,” he said. “Well, it had changed at the end of the other two task as well, but it dramatically changed when we figured out the lock was the rock in the middle of the circle.”

“I’m still mad about it being the rock,” Logan replied sullenly.

“It said the lock was in the circle. It’s not my fault your grid system didn’t cover the center.”

“It shouldn’t have been valid,” Logan growled.

“You’re just mad because _I_ figured out the riddle.”

“And, I reiterate, only an idiot could have figured out that riddle.”

“Well then, I guess it’s a good thing you brought an idiot, because otherwise you would have been searching for another 10 months and still probably wouldn’t have made the connection between the key and the inscription.”

“I thought it was to indicate which rock was the correct one and don’t act like it didn’t take you weeks to figure it out too.” Thomas tilted his head at them as they argued. It was a light argument, the expression on Logan’s face one he recognized from when Virgil was being particularly obtuse and arguing with Logan just to rile him up. Yet, at the same time there was something different about the expression.

“But… I did figure it out.”

“One task!” Logan said, slamming his fist down on the table. “You figured out a piece of one task. Don’t get a big head about it!”

“I did also help complete the first one,” Roman argued back.

“Oh, yes, you had to shut up for more than 30 seconds,” Logan said. “Such a laborious task to have to go through.”

Roman didn’t say anything. Instead he just smiled sweetly.

“…Are you truly going to be silent for 31 seconds now?” he asked. Judging by the smile on Roman’s face, yes, he was. Patton giggled at him from his seat at the table and even Virgil seemed amused.

Oh, okay, Thomas thought when after 31 seconds, the argument immediately picked up again, though it quickly faded into an in-depth discussion about rocks with magical properties they’d found and something about tree bark. Maybe those two did make sense.

Logan woke the morning after he’d arrived home with Roman in his bed. The discussion with Logan’s father the night before had gone surprisingly well after dinner. He’d agreed to at least consider the plan in the coming days though he cautioned that he’d expect them to have a bit of a longer engagement since they hadn’t truly known each other long. That was for the best anyway as they still needed to try to convince Roman’s home country to join an alliance with them and, honestly, Logan wanted to spend a bit of time at home. Overall, he’d liked being able to go on his adventure, but he’d missed the castle and his family.

They were going to send for the rest of Roman’s people later that day, though father was still working out where to put them all. The castle was large, but an unexpected influx of almost 30 people would doubtlessly put a strain on the people who worked there. He trusted his father to be able to smooth those issues over easily. If all else failed, they could sleep in tents in the garden. Logan could just imagine Virgil’s face at the idea. Logan may propose it just for fun.

Roman shifted slightly, still asleep, and Logan smiled over at him. He’d snuck Roman into his room the night before even though he imagined his father wouldn’t be particularly happy about it since he still didn’t know Roman well. Patton had caught them but had said that, while he was still mad enough at Logan to tell his father, he was a good enough friend not to tell him until the morning.

Since Logan had a feeling that his father would be sleeping in, considering how drained he’d looked by the end of their discussion the night before, he figured they still had a few hours.

Logan poked the man next to him in the calf with his foot. “Roman, wake up,” he said.

He squirmed a bit in discontent at being woken, but then his eyes slowly fluttered open. He looked at Logan and yawned. “Why are we waking up?” he asked.

“Because I want to show you something before my father remembers to ground me and then double grounds me for sneaking you into my room in the middle of the night.”

Roman snorted. “Can we nap after you show me?” he asked.

Logan smiled. “Sure,” he agreed.

“Then fine.”

They slipped out of bed and dressed, though it did take a bit more time than it should have as they got distracted with kisses. Eventually, Logan grabbed his bag with the Pragilium text in it, and they slipped out of Logan’s room and down the hall. It was a well-travelled path for Logan to the desired room.

“Is this the library?” Roman asked when Logan pulled him inside.

“It is,” Logan confirmed. He grabbed the book out of his bag and moved to set it on his desk. Technically the desk did not belong to him, but he’d claimed it decades ago and no one cared to argue the point. It slid right back into its normal place despite how it had changed throughout their adventure. It fit perfectly in the space next to the dozens of code-breaking books, dictionaries for old dead languages, and notes in Logan’s own handwriting.

“Why do I have a feeling that this chair has a permanent imprint of your butt?” Roman asked while surveying the contents of the desk. Then he smirked, “Not that it’s a bad imprint for it to have.”

“Maybe,” Logan said with a smile. He moved to open the curtains besides the desk. He could see the garden from this window and concluded that Virgil was still in bed as the gardening tool shed still was clearly still locked. The sun had not even fully risen, and he was likely tired, so that was to be expected.

Then, Logan sat down in his chair. He touched the book cover lightly. It was so different than the last time it had laid here. “I have a sketch of the old cover,” he said, digging through the piles of paper with practiced fingers. “I wanted to compare them.”

“Um,” Roman said, “should I…” he gestured to the room.

“Oh, yes,” Logan said. “Go find a comfortable looking chair and pull it up. I’d avoid the green ones. I have been told they hurt one’s back after a few hours.”

“Okay,” he agreed before he walked a bit deeper into the library. Logan watched as he sat down in a few different chairs to try them out. He took the task seriously, but eventually found one he liked and carried it over. He sat next to Logan and leaned in to look at the sketch of the old cover. “You’re such a nerd,” Roman said. “You drew the cover of your book.”

“Well, it’s a good thing I did,” Logan pointed out, “or we wouldn’t know what parts we should be looking at.”

“True,” Roman said. His hand brushed Logan’s neck as he put his arm around him. He pressed a quick kiss to Logan’s cheek. “Let’s see what’s changed in this magical book of yours.”

Logan smiled and grabbed a pen and sheet of blank paper to record their findings. Then they both leaned in together to study the way things had changed.”

**Author's Note:**

> [@snekky-boi](https://snekky-boi.tumblr.com/) did some fantastic artwork for this story. You can see it [here](https://snowdice.tumblr.com/post/625536957865394176/thank-you-so-much-i-love-everything-about-this).


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